








LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

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Chap. Copyright No. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 











































































































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Is My Bible True? 

Where did we get it? 


J 

By Rev. CHAS. LEACH, D. D. 


“ Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path'' 
Psalm cxix. ioj> 


§ FEB 17 1898 

Fleming H. Revell Company at OV'CS 


Chicago : : New York : : Toronto 

Publishers of Evangelical Literature * 

[sZfyi ■ TWC 

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ECE1VED 

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2532 


Copyrighted 1897, by Fleming H. Rev ell Company 


PREFACE. 



In its preparation I have made 
use of such material as I thought 


HAVE written this book for my 
own pleasure and profit; and now 
publish it, hoping to give pleasure 
and profit to others. 


suitable, wherever I found it, and I desire to acknowl- 
edge most fully my indebtedness to a large number 
of able writers whose works I have been able to con- 
sult. Among them I desire to mention Dr. Westcott, 
Dr. R. W. Dale, Dr. Newth, Dr. J. P. Smyth, Thomas 
Cooper, Dr. Tiscliendorf, “ Smith’s Bible Dictionary,” 
and many others. 

Should any of the multitude of busy people who 
love the Bible obtain help from the following pages, 
no one will rejoice more than the busy man who has 
written them. 


CHARLES LEACH. 


Manchester , 1897. 



CONTENTS, 


PART I.— THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

CHAP. PAGE 

I, Introduction . . 9 

II. Christ before the Gospels 14 

III. The Three Oldest Bibles in the World .. 19 

IV. The Three Oldest Bibles in the World, 

Continued 27 

V. The Ancient Fathers of the Church . . 35 

VI. The Apostolic Fathers 41 

VII. Polycarp 47 

VIII. Papias 54 

IX. Ancient Versions of the Scriptures .. 59 

PART II. —THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

X. Our Lord’s Eible 66 

XI. The People’s Bible Before Christ .. .. 71 

XII. The Fountain-Head 76 

PART III. —OUR ENGLISH BIBLE. 

XIII. The First Versions .. .. .. ..80 

XIV. The Scriptures in Anglo-Saxon .. .. 86 

XV. John Wycliffe .. .. .. .. 92 

XVI. William Tyndale . . . . . . . . 98 

XVII. Authorized Versions . . . . . . 108 

XVIII. The Revised Version .. .. .. 114 










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FINE GOLD. 


There is gold in the rocks which fringe the Pass of the 
Splugen , gold even in the stones which mend the roads , but there 
is too little of it to be worth extracting . 

. . . Not so the Scriptures, they are much fine gold; their 
very dust is precious. — C. H. Spurgeon. 

The Bible is God's chart for you to steer by, to keep you from 
the bottom of the sea, and to show you where the harbor is, and 
how to reach it without running on rocks or bars. — Beecher. 

Happy is the man that delighteth in the Scriptures, and thrice 
happy that meditateth in it day and night. 

Translators of the English Version. 

Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye 
have eternal life ; and these are they which bear witness of Me. 
— John v. 39. r. v. 
































































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Is My Bible True? 

Where did we get it? 


PART I.--THE NEW TESTAMENT. 


I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

ONCE said to a Christian lady, “Is 
the Bible really true?” Without a 
moment’s hesitation she answered, 
“ Of course it is true.” But when 
I asked her how she would proceed 
to prove it to be true, she could 
not answer me. Could you ? 

If I were to ask you where the Bible came from, 
who wrote it, and when and where, you might not be 
able to tell me readily. And yet these questions can 
be answered by those who have had time to study 
the subjects which they raise. 

There are thousands of people all over the world 
9 



10 


INTRODUCTION 


who love the Bible as the best of all books. It is 
their daily companion and friend. They accept it 
as the inspired Word of God. They come to it for 
comfort when they are sad, for guidance when per- 
plexed, and for instruction in those matters of the 
soul and God which they cannot obtain elsewhere. 
It has quickened them into new life, and been to 
them one of God’s agents in kindling on the altar of 
their hearts i}iose flames of immortal glory which 
reach beyond the bounds of time. It inspires many 
of them to deeds of love and sacrifice, which make 
the world richer and better. The poor among them 
read it, and learn to sing songs of joy and gladness 
in their poverty. The rich among them read it ; 
and many of them discover that they are stewards 
for God, and that the gold and silver which they hold 
belong to Him. The tempted and the tried find it 
a source of new strength and hope. 

THE MASSES LOVE THE BIBLE. 

Among these people are many of the excellent 
of the earth. Thousands of them would suffer any 
loss rather than part with the Bible. In the first 
centuries of the Christian era many were cast into 
prison rather than give up their Scriptures to those 
who were engaged upon the impossible task of exter- 
minating the Bible. Numbers of them suffered death 
itself rather than dishonor the Word of the living 


the MASSES LOVE THE BIBLE 


11 


God. Among the masses of the people to=day there 
are multitudes who have the same loyal love for the 
inspired Book, and if occasion demanded it, would 
endure death rather than dishonor it. 

And yet many of them could not answer my ques- 
tions. It is to help such as these that I write these 
pages. I want them to know that the Bible which 
we have is substantially the same as that possessed 
by our Lord and His Apostles and the Christians 
in the first century. 

There is one thing of which we are all sure — the 
Bible is here . Wherever it came from, whoever made 
it — we possess it. True or false, good or bad, of men 
or of God, inspired or uninspired, it is among us. 

Our fathers had it before us. Their copies of the 
Scriptures are in our possession, not a few of them 
marked and made precious with the tears they shed 
upon the pages, hallowed with the breath of their 
prayers. Their fathers had it, too. Where did they 
get it? In order to discover its truth, we will 

TRACE IT BACK TO ITS SOURCE. 

The Biver Thames flows through London. It 
bears on its bosom the ships of all nations, which 
carry the merchandise of the world. Below London 
it flows into the ocean, and puts the nation in touch 
with all parts of the globe. It is interesting to follow 
it backward, and see it as it flows through quiet 


12 


INTRODUCTION 


valleys, past ancient cities and many a mile of peace- 
ful scenery. Londoners do not like their old river 
any the less when they discover that it has its source 
as a small stream among the distant hills, and grows 
to be the noble river it is as it passes London after 
many other rivers and streams have flowed into it. 
In like manner, we shall love our Bible no less, 
but more, when we know how it came into the world 
and grew to be the noble book it is. 

I shall have to take you on journeys to different 
cities and distant lands. We shall have to visit 
many libraries, examine old books and parchments, 
consult ancient records, and peep into some churches 
venerable with age. We shall have to visit ancient 
monasteries, and sit beside some of the old monks 
who are now safe in the better land. 

We want to know, as far as we can learn, how 
to answer the following questions: 

I. Is the Bible really true? 

II. Where did our Bible come from? 

III. Is our Bible the same which the ancient 
Christians read daily? 

IV. Were the contents of our New Testament in 
our hands, in the hands of the Apostles and their 
friends and followers before the first century had 
closed ? 

V. — Is the Old Testament which we peruse the 
same which our Lord had? 


QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED 13 

We shall deal first with the New Testament, and 
then with the Old, and then we shall trace the his- 
tory of our English Bible. May the spirit of God 
who inspired the holy Apostles help us and guide us 
in the way of all truth! 


II. 


CHRIST BEFORE THE GOSPELS. 

K Lord lived and taught and died 
before the Gospels we possess were 
written at all. After His ascension 
into heaven, almost a generation 
passed before the earliest Gospel 
was written. We do not know 
that He wrote a line, except with His finger on the 
floor of the Temple when the Pharisees brought a 
fallen woman into his presence. 

He came down from heaven, published the good 
news of salvation, called and trained His disciples, 
breathed upon them the Holy Ghost, and went back 
to heaven without leaving behind Him any written 
Gospel at all. The legacy He left to the world was 
not an organized Church, nor a proud priesthood, nor 
a set of written documents, but the small band of 
disciples whom He had Himself prepared to carry on 
the work He came to start. In the fierce controversies 
of the present age it may help us to remember this. 
Christ lived and His salvation was proclaimed before 

any part of the New Testament was put into writing. 

u 



THE DISCIPLES 


15 


Men found rest and peace, and salvation in Jesus 
Christ, before there was a Christian Church, a Chris- 
tian ministry, or Christian Scriptures. If the New 
Testament should suddenly be lost, and the organized 
Christian Church be destroyed, men would still find 
salvation; for the Spirit of God is in the world and 
moves upon the hearts of men and guides them into 
the w T ay of peace. 

THE APOSTLES, PREACHING. 

On the day of Pentecost the disciples received their 
full equipment as witnesses for Jesus and preachers 
of the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God. Begin- 
ning at Jerusalem, they went forth to many lands to 
publish the good tidings of great joy which God had 
made known for all men. With their own lips, and 
not out of book, they told the story of their Lord’s 
life; of His death; and His glorious resurrection and 
ascension into heaven. Out of their own experience 
and knowledge they spake the things concerning 
their Lord. They declared what they had seen, and 
heard and felt of the love of God. 

Men believed the gospel which they heard. In 
many places they came together for worship and 
being of one heart and mind formed Christian church- 
es for mutual help, long before the Gospels and Epis- 
tles were written. 

What need had the disciples and their companions 


16 


CHRIST BEFORE THE GOSPELS 


of written documents at all? Had not they been the 
companions, the pupils, and friends of the Master? 
Three of them had seen His glory on the Mount of 
Transfiguration. Some were present when He called 
Lazarus from the grave. Many saw Him on the 
cross. Had they not also seen Him alive after His 
resurrection and witnessed His ascension to heaven? 

THE APOSTLES LIVING WITNESSES. 

The living witness was better than any written testi- 
mony. Writing could not describe the looks, the ten- 
derness, the pathos, the sympathy, the patience, the 
mercy, the pity, and the deep love of our Lord, as 
could the witnesses which H% Himself had chosen 
and fitted for this work. 

But as time went on great changes came. The lit- 
tle company of the Apostles, the original witnesses, be- 
gan to decrease. Some were killed, and others were 
growing old. So long as they remained, and could 
have access to the churches, all went well. But as 
Christianity spread, and the churches grew up far 
apart from each other, and the Apostolic band 
diminished, it was only natural that the converts 
should be anxious to have the precious words they 
had heard put into permanent form, so that they 
might hand them on to all who should follow them. 

A PERMANENT RECORD. 

And the disciples themselves would be anxious to 


A PERMAMENT RECORD 


17 


have the story put into writing that it might endure. 
They came to know that the Gospel they had to 
preach was for all men of all time. 

When the Holy Spirit led them to see this it 
naturally followed that they would desire the continu- 
ance of the story of their Master, which it had been 
the business of their life to tell. 

These were, doubtless, the circumstances which 
led many, as Luke tells us, to take in hand to set 
forth in order a declaration of those things which 
were most surely believed among them, as those 
who were ministers of the Word, and eye-witnesses 
from the first, had declared them. Thus the Gospels 
sprang up. 

THE WRITING OF THE EPISTLES. 

Then, too, many of the churches which the Apostles 
had planted in different places called for S£>ecial com- 
munications from their founders. Disturbances in 
some of the churches, unfaithfulness in others, the 
generosity of others, and the needs of many, 
caused the despatch of letters, all more or less em- 
bodying the teaching of Jesus, and containing 
statements concerning the mind and will of God, 
and filled with precepts and principles governing 
the duty of Christian men and women. All these 
writings were highly prized, and would doubtless 
be kept as treasures by the churches to which they 
were sent, 


18 


CHRIST BEFORE THE GOSPELS 


Though printing was then unknown, writing was 
common. It is quite likely that many copies of the 
Gospels were w T ritten at the request and at the 
expense of the various churches, while many of 
them would doubtless procure copies of the 
letters sent to the different churches. All these 
writings would be regarded as precious treasures 
by the various bodies which held them, and 
be deposited in safe keeping together with their 
copies of the Old Testament, and all con- 
sidered and treated as sacred books. It is certain 

that at a very early period some churches - had 

* 

possessed themselves not only of copies of the 
Gospels, but also of most of the Apostolic Epistles. 

It is the story of some of these precious documents 
that we have to tell, so that we may know from 
whence our New Testament came. 

We shall have to go back step by step right to the 
fountaindiead. We will begin by looking at three of 
the oldest Bibles in the world; then we will notice 
some of the ancient fathers of the church ; then we 
will go back a generation and learn something of the 
Apostolic Fathers; and lastly, we will glance at 
some ancient versions of the Scriptures: we desire to 
see what they have to say to us as to our ques- 
tion — Where did our Bible come from? 


III. 

THE THREE OLDEST BIBLES IN THE 
WORLD. 


WANT to take you now to see three 
of the oldest Bibles in the world, 
They are all written in Greek and 
are very ancient. The names by 
which they are known are “ The 
Alexandrian ” MS., “ The Vat- 
ican ” MS., and “Sinaitic” MS. 

These three faded old books are very precious 
indeed, and are very carefully treasured by the 
nations who possess them. It is rather remarkable 
that they now belong to the three great branches of 
the Christian Church, — the Greek, the Roman Cath- 
olic, and the Protestant Churches. One of them, the 
Sinaitic (known as Codex Aleph) is in the library at 
St. Petersburg, and the Greek Church greatly 
prizes it. Another, the Vatican (known as Codex B) 
is the valued treasure of the Roman Catholic Church 
and is in the Vatican library at Rome. And another 
the Alexandrian (known as Codex A) is in the Brit- 
ish Museum, London, and is, of .course, very 

greatly prized. I shall have a story to tell about 
19 




20 THE THREE OLDEST BIBLES IN THE WORLD 

each of these books when we go to inspect them; but 
I want first to state something about their age and 
how it is determined. 

THE AGE OF THESE OLD MANUSCRIPTS. 

It is not very easy to fix with certainty the exact 
date at which they were written, but we may feel sure 
that we are near the mark if we say they belong to 
the fourth and fifth centuries. If this be so, we may 
date them as from about the year 301 to 450 a. d. 

But some readers may ask: How do we know the 
age of these manuscripts if they have no dates upon 
them? There are several w T ays of getting to know 
this, which I may explain in a few sentences. The 
form of the letters in which a manuscript is written; 
the way in which the words are joined together; and 
the plainness or ornamentation of the initial letters 
— ead is a guide in fixing the date of a Greek docu- 
ment. 

If you ever look at a Greek manuscript and find 
that all the writing is in capital letters and that the 
words in one line are all joined together without any 
division, you may conclude that it is of a very great 
age. It will be written thus, only in Greek charac- 
ters : — 

GODSOLOVEDTHEWORLDTHATHEGAVEKISONLYBEGOTTEN 

S0NTHATWH0S0EVERBEUEVETHINH1MSH0ULDN0TPER1S 

The documents written in this way are called 


THE VATICAN MANUSCRIPT 


21 


uncial manuscripts, and are always ancient. Those 
which are modern are written in a running or flowing 
hand, and are called cursive. All these three old 
Bibles are uncial manuscripts. 

If we could visit the British Museum we would see 
many copies of the Bible and other sacred books 
with most beautifully illuminated headings and ini- 
tial letters. We would generally find that these are 
comparatively modern works. But the very ancient 
Greek manuscripts, of which there are many beside 
the three under notice, are usually very plain, and 
always in the uncial style. 

I.— THE VATICAN MANUSCRIPT. 

Come with me to the ancient city of Rome, that 
city which has played such a remarkable part in the 
religious and civil history of the world. If we have 
time it would be interesting while we are at Rome to 
visit the palace of the Caesars, and the house of 
Nero. We might see the Coliseum, the building into 
which Christians were flung to the wild beasts rather 
than part with their sacred books or dishonor their 
Lord and Savior. But we must go at once to the 
Vatican library. 

The Vatican manuscript ( Codex B) is kept here. 
This library was founded by Nicholas V. about A. d. 
1448, and this MS. appears in the first catalogue, 
compiled in the year 1475. Nothing is known of its 


22 THE THREE OLDEST BIBLES IN THE WORLD 


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CODEX VATICANUS. 

(1 Esdras ii. 1-8)— Fourth century. 

(Rome, Vatican Library.) 

The Bible in Greek, written in uncial 
letters, probably in the fourth century. 
The text is arranged in three columns to 
a page, except in the poetical books of 
the Old Testament, which are written 
in double column. Apparently in the 
tenth century, the writing was carefully, 
but quite unnecessarily, retraced in 
darker ink. The same hand added the 
breathings and accents. The MS. was 
already in the Vatican Library in Rome 
in the fifteenth century, but nothing is 
known of its previous history. 


previous history but 
its present custodians 
have guarded it with 
the most jealous care, 
and access to it was oft- 
en difficult to obtain. 
But thirty years ago, 
Pius IX was the occu- 
pant of Peter’s chair, 
and a photographic 
fac simile w T as issued. 

We notice that it 
is in book form, hav- 
ing more than 700 
leaves about 12 in- 
ches square. Each 
page contains three 
columns, except the 
poetical books of the 
Old Testament, which 
are in double col- 
umn; and the writ- 
ing is all in capital 
letters. It is almost 
a complete copy of 
the Bible. It has lost 
Genesis, chapters i. 
to xlvi., Psalms cv. 


THE SINAITIC MANUSCRIPT 


23 


to cxxxvii., and all that follows Hebrews ix., 14. 

THE OLDEST BIBLE KNOWN. 

As we look at this book we may conclude that 
we gaze at the oldest Greek Bible known to the 
world. I say known to the world, because there may 
be other precious treasures older even than this hid 
away among the rubbish of some of the convents 
and other places, some day to be brought to light, as 
was the Sinaitic manuscript about which I am to 
tell you the story directly. But this is the oldest at 
present known. It carries us back probably to the 
beginning of the fourth century. For more than 1500 
years this manuscript has been in the world; and it is a 
standing proof that if our Bible is an invention, it 
must have been forged before the fourth century, 
when this manuscript was written. 

II.— THE SINAITIC MANUSCRIPT. 

From Rome, in Italy, let us go to St. Petersburg 
in Russia. As we travel from the west to the east, 
from the center of the Latin to the headquarters of the 
Greek Church, I may say that we are going to see 
the famous Sinaitic manuscript ( Codex Aleph). 

This is also in book form; each page contains four 
columns, except the poetical books of the Old Testa- 
ment, which are arranged as in Codex B. It is believed 
to be almost, if not quite, as ancient as the Vatican 


24 THE THREE OLDEST BIBLES IN THE WORLD 


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CODEX S1NAITICUS. 
(Esther ii. 3-8)— Fourth or Fifth 
century. 

(Leipzig. Royal Library.) 

The Bible in Greek, written in 
uncial letters, probably in the 
fourth or fifth century. The text 
is arranged in four columns to a 
page, except in the poetical books 
of the Old Testament, which are 
written in double column. 


MS. But its story is most 
remarkable. For genera- 
tions, perhaps even for cen- 
turies, it lay beneath the 
books and rubbish of a con- 
vent, and was only discov- 
ered, as we say, by an ac- 
cident. 

There was a famous Ger- 
man scholar, named Dr. 
Tischendorf, who devoted 
nearly the whole of his life 
to searching for and study- 
ing ancient manuscripts o£ 
the Bible. All who love 
the Bible are placed under 
lasting obligations to him 
for his discoveries and in- 
vestigations. It seems that 
he traveled through many 
parts of the East, search- 
ing all the old libraries in- 
to which he could obtain 
access. 

MANUSCRIPT USED FOR 
LIGHTING FIRES. 


In the year 1844 he was paying a visit to St. 


A FORTUNATE DISCOVERY 


25 


Catherine’s convent at the foot of Mt. Sinai, when he 
made a fortunate discovery. In the hall of the con- 
vent there stood a basket filled with parchments 
ready for the fire, and he was told two similar basket- 
fuls had been burned. 

On examining the contents of the basket he was 
surprised to find parchment leaves of the Greek 
Old Testament, the most ancient he had ever seen. 
He was unable to conceal his joy, and was allowed 
to take away one-third or about fortydhree sheets. 
Though the lot was destined for the fire, his joy at 
his discovery roused the suspicions of the monks, and 
led them to think that perhaps the manuscripts 
were valuable, and so they would not give him any 
more. Tischendorf deposited the portion in the 
Royal Library, at Leipzig, to which he gave the name 
of “ Codex Frederick Augustus ” in acknowledgment 
of the patronage given to him by the King of Saxony. 

SUCCESSFUL AT LAST. 

But in the year 1859, or about fifteen years after 
his dip into the basket, he was again at the convent, 
armed with a commission from the Russian Emperor. 
His second visit promised to be a failure, and he 
was about to depart without having made any fresh 
discovery, but on the evening before he had ar- 
ranged to leave, he was walking in the grounds 
with the steward of the convent, who asked him 


26 THE THREE OLDEST BIBLES IN THE WORLD 

into liis cell to take some refreshment. As they con- 
versed, the monk produced a bundle wrapped in 
red cloth. To his great delight Tischendorf found 
not only some of the fragments which he had 
seen before, but other parts of the Old Testament, 
and the New Testament complete, and some other 
writings besides. 

After a while, through the influence of the Emperor, 
the manuscript was obtained from the convent and 
brought to the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg, in 
which we now see it, and it has become the most 
precious treasure in the possession of the Greek 
Church . 1 A fac simile of this valuable manuscript is 
to be seen in the British Museum. 

If the contents of that one basket have so enriched 
us, what a treasure we might have had if the contents 
of those two other baskets had been saved from the 
fire! What other priceless documents are yet to be 
brought to light we cannot tell. 


1 See “ How we got our Bible” by Dr. J. P. Smyth; and “Smith's 
Bible Dictionary ,” for some of the suggestions of this chapter. 


IV. 


THE THREE OLDEST BIBLES IN THE 
WORLD. — Continued. 

III.— THE ALEXANDRIAN MANUSCRIPT. 

ET ns now return to England and 
visit the British Museum in Lon- 
don. Passing in at the main en- 
trance and turning to the right we 
shall soon find ourselves in the 
Manuscript Boom. There are many 
cases full -of all sorts of ancient books, written 
on parchment of different kinds and ages. Quite 
a number of them are copies of the Bible. Some 
are lives of saints and others are on various subjects. 

You cannot but notice the labor and skill and de- 
votion with which many of them have been prepared. 
Pages of beautiful illustrations, numbers of elabo- 
rately decorated initials can be seen, looking as fresh 
as if recently done, though many of them are hun- 
dreds of years old. 

England’s most treasured manuscript. 

Our concern now, however, is not with any of 
these. We are going to see the Alexandrian Manu- 
script, — so called from having once formed part of 
27 



28 THE THREE OLDEST BIBLES IN THE WORLD 

the library at Alexandria. This is the third oldest 
Bible in the world. It belongs to England, and is 
not likely to be lightly parted with. It is in four 
volumes, one of which you will find at the far end 
of the MS. room in a case marked F. If you speak 
to the Curator, he will tell you that large numbers of 
visitors come to see this famous old Bible. 

You will notice that it also is the uncial form 
of letters, and has two columns on a page. In the 
same case will also be found photographs of one of 
the pages of each the Sinaitic and Vatican manu- 
scripts. You will remember that the Vatican 
Bible has three columns on a page, and the Sinaitic 
Bible four columns on a page. This manuscript 
was probably written about the middle of the fifth 
century. It is written on very thin vellum, and has 
been in the possession of England since it was 
presented to King Charles I. in 1628 by Cyril, Patri- 
arch of Constantinople. 

It will thus be seen that it is the youngest of the 
three old Bibles we have noticed. It contains both 
the Old and New Testaments, though it is not quite 
perfect. It is marvelous to find a written document 
of such great age so perfect as this is. The New 
Testament seems to have suffered more than the Old. 
Only 

TEN LEAVES ARE MISSING 

from the Old Testament; but the new has lost more, 


THE ALEXANDRIAN MANUSCRIPT 


29 


\ »AMTo^e<J>evH^.vNxTeA>on5n 

t*rr iOA.YOMCUN evOeU)CAjef\: 4 

(fxioTioMR fo.ce f x e ** * ikm re» 

fQ eTx i ori’uic^xi o*iwr«No*ixi 
eONTxxc i e*i trfOr 1 1< xycu>“ 
l§ 2 ‘rw FOKfrfxi 

trtr»-i1%>du> iroN i HCriie 

o vo iA>crdA^i< i foxirc 1 1 
bi,hje i< x i f O N royi v>rrrrvoi 
ovaoki mx^ 6 re Tuei<xix< 

,-Ayi \un ovk f iiMOTC tav taAi* 
(l^crAfv^^rtjiCMCTMovxpm, 
y ^n<oyc<->voTixfxoiMxxerMV>» 
]p^«f)^OCOf PAClXfSIXT iXXXXXpM 
.X'riXY'POV'N* MTTOTeijCX-nCVfiJ 
.cerrrPOCTON upiTrt r* 15x1 oi<|»f 
^»icCemxpxiud)pciTcwti*/Kifcf) 
i<^»OnfxioU)f<JeB>AMe«c®v>^ 
!!<H NAUfU»tO»OVM MOzejS)»K?' 
uKe 1 06 NCOJCrt-OY kxrrttNc^ 

<yx*ix> ki x6rrix>NJmttMi ic\( 

~T i jx»> *t cxrisaTe i n eco nxVi u> 
trxxi km ra>xrnwrrexxois«T«cxvwtf 
or^j*^uNrJkMAAia)r^a>Nto| 
4»vxi r o i xxroQe K4,ue n *» er*i 

^ru > hi OYC I U.)NX>nUJM' KAIXmi 

»< r i o e 1 60 »ce rnneisr xyroic *•' 

JSjp KGl TXl d lOl PAX! \XIO lOVIwl 
xpraixOrnsif xnrXNTicionf^ 
IAN » \XlOYCCf^NON'n)OTf'!fc» 
dY'rxrrCnOKIOAClNOVX'Mejxi 
YM f NX \xe\M Kt HMCTXNlOlicrt 
rjne Tl XNTGCC^ICVYTtDCXTIUMiwi 
e«<e ino ioiagkvkxiokiui- 
e<boYC ei » eccNorirfroccN 
*njc>o » -i<x i xttcki ciNq^ 

CODEX ALEXANDRINUS. 

(St. Luke xii. 54-xiii. 4)— Fifth century. 

(British Museum, Royal MS. r. D. v-viii.) 

The Bible in Greek, written in uncial letters in the fifth 
century. The text is arranged in two columns to a page. 
It once belonged to the Patriarchal Chamber of Alexandria 
(whence its name), and was probably carried away by 
Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Alexandria, who became Patn- 
arch of Constantinople in 1621. Cyril sent it as a present 
to King Charles the First in 1628. It came in / ( > ^Pos- 
session of the British Museum with the rest of the Royal 


r ’3rX‘ 


8 


session 

MSS. 


30 THE THREE OLDEST BIBLES IN THE WORLD 

Twenty^five leaves have gone from the Gospel by 
Matthew, two from the Gospel by John, and three 
from Corinthians. 

We have now seen these three remarkable manu- 
scripts all written, say 1500 years ago. It is not 
possible to estimate their value to Bible students. 
They carry us back at once to remote ages, and help 
very considerably in showing us where our Bible 
came from. As we look at them we are at once put 
in touch with men who lived at the beginning of the 
fourth century. Though in our study of ancient 
versions of the Scriptures we shall get much nearer 
to the Apostles and to our Lord than these three old 
Greek munuscripts carry us, we still have in them a 
rich boon. They link us with the Christian fathers 
of the early centuries, and clearly show that their 
Scriptures and oars are the same. 

THESE MSS. INACCESSIBLE TO KING JAMES’ 
TRANSLATORS. 

It is quite worthy of note that the scholarly men 
who in the reign of King James made our Authorized 
English Bible, had no access to these three valuable 
old documents. The Vatican manuscript was at 
Rome, and the Pope of that day was not the man to 
let Protestants have the use of this book. The 
Sinaitic manuscript was buried in the convent at 
Sinai, and its existence was not known to the Com- 
pany of Revisers. And the Alexandrian manuscript 


A LINK WITH THE EARLY CHRISTIANS 


31 


was received in England about seventeen years after 
the authorized revisers had done their work. The 
scholars who have prepared our excellent Revised 
Bible were fortunate. All these three old manu- 
scripts were at their disposal. 

CODEX EPHRAEM. 

If this chapter is not already tedious let us exam- 
ine at least one other ancient manuscript, which is in 
the Library at Paris. It is called the Codex of Epli- 
raem. It is believed to be nearly as old as the Alex- 
andrian manuscript, if not a little older. It was 
brought from the East to Florence in the sixteenth 
century, and in the middle of that same century 
reached Paris. 

At first sight it does not seem to be of much val- 
ue, for its writing is in the cursive style and is 
comparatively modern. But as we will look at it a lit- 
tle more carefully we will see that under the modern 


CODEX EPHRAEM (PORTION OF I. TIM,, iii. l6> 


writing there are traces of writing in the uncial or 


32 THE THREE OLDEST BIBLES IN THE WORLD 

ancient style. The parchment is doubly written 
upon. This kind of manuscript is called a 
Palimpsest, which means written twice. There are 
many documents of this kind. It would seem, in 
order to save cost of parchment, the writers would 
rub out as well as they could the first writing, and 
then use the sheets for writing other matter upon. 
It will at once be obvious that the ancient rubbed-out 
writing must in many cases have been far more valu- 
able than the second or more modern writing. This 
was particularly so with the Codex of Ephraem, as 
the next few lines will show. 

HOW THE OLDER WRITING WAS DECIPHERED. 

The story of this precious manuscript is briefly 
this. It seems that about the twelfth century some 
one took this parchment and scraped and rubbed it 
to clear out the old writing, in order to make it fit for 
use again. When this was done the skins were used 
to write on them some discourses of Ephraem, a Syrian 
father of the fourth century, not onedhousandth 
part as valuable as the writing which had first been 
on the parchment. The old writing had not been 
completely rubbed out. Attention was drawn to it a 
long time ago, and efforts were made to read the faint 
writing. About sixty years ago chemicals were ap- 
plied to the manuscript. The effect of this appli- 
cation was twofold; it much stained and spoiled 


THE WRITING RESTORED 


33 



HEBREW MS. 


(Exod. xx. 1-5)— Written eariler than 
A. D. 916. 

(British Museum, Add. MS. 4445.) 

Portions of the Pentateuch. The 
text is arranged in two columns to 
the page, and is accompanied by the 
Massorah Magna and Parva. 


the vellum, but it re- 
vived a good part of the 
old uncial writings, and 
it was found to contain 
considerable portions of 
the Old Testament, and 
fragments of each book 
of the New Testament. 

NUMEROUS OTHER MSS. 

IN EXISTENCE. 

Though we have only 
examined four of these 
ancient manuscripts, 
there are large numbers 
of others beside. It is 
stated that in the uncial 
style there are 127 and 
in the cursive style 1,463. 
As time goes on greater 
attention will be paid to 
many of these, and no 
doubt we shall get much 
additional light upon 
the Bible as the result 
of their study. 1 


The conclusion to which we are brought by the ex- 


! See “ Smith’s Bible Dictionary.’ 


34 THE THREE OLDEST BIBLES IN THE WORLD 


animation of these old Bibles is, that our Bible was in 
existence when these books were written. Our New 
Testament, therefore, must have come from some 
earlier source. Let us take our next step. 


V. 


THE ANCIENT FATHERS OF THE 
CHURCH. 



ANY years ago, says Thomas Cooper, 
a party of scholarly men met at a 
dinner-party. During the conver- 
sation, some one in the party put 
a question which no one present 
was able to answer. The ques- 


tion was this: — 

Suppose that the New Testament had been de- 
stroyed, and every copy of it lost by the end of the 
third century, coulcl it have been collected together 
again from the writings of the Fathers of the second 
and third centuries? 

The question startled the company; but all were 
silent. Two months afterwards one of the company 
called upon Sir David Dalrymple, who had been pres- 
ent at the dinner. Pointing to a table covered with 
books, Sir David said: “Look at those books. You 
remember the question about the New Testament and 
the Fathers? That question roused my curiosity, and 
as I possessed all the existing works of the Fathers of 

the second and third centuries, I commenced to 
35 


86 


THE ANCIENT FATHERS OF THE CHURCH 


search, and np to this time I have found the entire 
New Testament, except eleven verses. 

It must be quite clear to every person that when 
these Ancient Fathers lived and wrote their books, 

OUE NEW TESTAMENT WAS IN EXISTENCE, 

or they could not have made such copious extracts 
from it as they did. Many of the books they wrote 
have been lost in the passing of the ages, and only a 
comparative few have reached us, But if the entire 
New Testament is to be found in such writings as 
have come down to us, we must conclude that the 
sacred Scriptures were not only known among them, 
but were their constant companion, their meat and 
drink, their precious treasure of the Word of Life — 
as is the case with us to-day. 

In further illustration of this I may mention just 
one fact in connection with one of the ancient Fathers 
named Origen. This man was a most active scholar, 
and occupied an important place in the Church. He 
was born in the year 185, A. D. He wrote many books, 
only a few of which have survived the ravages 
of time. But we are told that in a few of his 
works which have come down to us, iwodhirds of the 
New Testament can be found. This is a most note- 
worthy fact. 

It would make these chapters very long if I were to 
give some account of all the Fathers of the first three 


TERTULL1AN 


37 


centuries which are known to us. I must leave those 
who desire fuller information to pursue their studies 
through the usual channels, and will content myself 
by selecting and naming only a few. Those which I 
shall introduce will be men each of whom lived in the 
second and third centuries. Among them were some 
who lived when men were alive who had heard and 
seen the writers of our sacred books, and conversed 
with them about some of the august facts concerning 
our Lord’s life and works, and some of them even the 
friends of the Apostles themselves. 

THREE EARLY FATHERS. 

In the year 175, three very eminent Fathers were 
alive. They’ are known as Irenseus, Tertullian, and 
Clement of Alexandria. I want to give you a very 
short account of each of these three; and it is impor- 
tant to note the valuable testimony which they bear 
to the existence, in their day, of the New Testament — 
our New Testament, observe. They lived in different 
parts of the world, moved among different circum- 
stances, but all bear most valued testimony to the 
place and authority of the Gospels and Epistles in 
their day. 

TERTULLIAN. 

Tertullian was born at Carthage, in Africa, about 
the year 150, A. d. His father was a Roman 
centurion, and Tertullian was blessed with a 


38 THE ANCIENT FATHERS OF THE CHURCH 

sound education in the religion of his heathen parents. 
Philosophy, history, and law were subjects in 
which he took much delight. He grew up to 
manhood before his conversion to Christianity, 
and was probably forty years of age before that 
important event took place. He was a man of 
profound mind, ardent and deep feeling, and a 
voluminous writer. This scholarly lawyer made' 
great use of the New Testament. He ascribes the 
four Gospels to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 
His works which are known to us have been care- 
fully examined, and it is found that he makes 2,500 
references to the New Testament. Of these 700 are 
references to the Gospels, and of these, again, 200 
are to the Gospel by St. John. He quotes from every 
chapter in Matthew, Luke and John. He was the first 
to introduce the phrase “New Testament,” and the 
first of the fathers who wrote in Latin, 

IRENJSUS. 

Irenseus was another type of man who lived in 
another part of the world and had entirely different 
surroundings. He was probably born in the year 
130, A. d., and was a native of Asia Minor. He 
had the unspeakable advantage of being a disciple of 
Papias and Polycarp, the disciples and friends of the 
Apostle John. It is not quite clear how or when he 
came to leave his birthplace, but we know him chiefly 


CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA 


39 


for his connection with the Christian church at 
Lyons He was presbyter of the church there dur- 
ing the time of a fierce persecution under Marcus 
Aurelius the Roman Emperor. The aged bishop of 
the church, named Ponthinus, died in prison in the 
year 177, and Irenseus succeeded him. 

In his writings he used the New Testament with 
great freedom indeed. He attributes the four Gospels 
to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He argues that 
there were four and could be no more than four Gos- 
pels. In his known works he makes twelve hundred 
references to the New Testament. Of this number 
four hundred are to the Gospels; he makes eighty 
references to the Gospel of St. John alone. 

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. 

From Gaul we pass to Alexandria, that we may get 
a short notice of Clement, of that city. The early 
history of the church in Alexandria is not very certain. 
Tradition has said that Mark was the founder of it. 
Be that as it may, we know that Alexandria early 
became an important center — noted for its scholars, 
its library, and its university. It was the meetings 
place of men of all nations. Christianity early took 
root in this city, and famous Christian schools were 
established. 

Clement was probably born about the year 165, 
A. D. Like Tertullian, he grew to manhood be- 


40 THE ANCIENT FATHERS OF THE CHURCH 

fore he became a Christian. He was a great scholar, 
and presided over a most famous school of thought at 
this center of active life and culture. He was a man of 
wide intelligence, and broad sympathies. Within one 
hundred years of the death of the Apostles of our 
Lord, he was working and teaching, and accepted as 
genuine and authentic the Gospels as we accept them. 
He mentions Matthew, Luke, Mark, and John by 
name, and places them in the order here last named. 
He makes three hundred and twenty references to 
the New Testament in his works which we have. 

This is the testimony which these three ancient 
Fathers bear to our sacred Book. Living in different 
centres of life and thought, they yet all had our New 
Testament. They used it not simply as a private 
book, but as the recognized Scripture of the churches 
with which they each lived and worked. It must be 
quite clear that our Bible came from men who lived 
before they did; and as one of these men was a 
scholar at the feet of Polycarp, the disciple of St. 
John, we need but to go back one step more and we 
are with the Apostles. We want but one more link, 
and our chain of evidence, reaching from the Bible 
lying on my desk as I write, to the hands of the in- 
spired men who wrote the New Testament portion of 
it, is complete. We will try to supply that one link 
in our next chapter, and thus clasp hands with the 
Apostles. 


VI. 


THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS. 

ROM the Early Fathers we step 
back to the Apostolic Fathers. By 
the Apostolic Fathers I here mean 
men who were alive before the last 
of the apostles had passed away. 
They were the friends of the friends 
of our Lord; men who had heard the story of our 
Lord’s life from the lips of His own disciples them- 
selves, and from many of the intimate and close 
friends of these. 

CLEMENT OF ROME, POLYCARP, AND PAPIAS. 

Here again I select three: Clement of Rome, 
Polycarp, and Papias. In the last chapter we were 
considering the writings of about the year 175, A. D. 
Now let us go a hundred years farther back still, and 
fix in our minds the year 75, A. d. All these three 
men were born before this date. Polycarp may have 
been about five years of age, Papias perhaps fifteen 
years of age, and Clement a man, but of what age I 
am unable to say. 

In this year, 75, A. d., it is important to remember 

that one of the Lord’s disciples was still alive, and 
41 





42 


THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS 


perhaps others. St. John was bishop of the church 
at Ephesus. His friend Andrew who went with him 
to Asia Minor, and also Philip who settled at Hier- 
apolis, may also have been alive at this time. 
Jerusalem had been destroyed five years previous- 
ly. The Apostle Paul had written his Epistles 
some years before this date on which we fix, 
and had now for some years been in the enjoyment 
of that “ Crown of Life ” which he tells us the Lord 
has laid up for the faithful in heaven. All the New 
Testament, with the exception of the later writings of 
John, was in the possession of the churches. 

CLEMENT OP ROME. 

When the Apostle Paul was a prisoner at Rome, 
he was very poor and in needy circumstances. One 
of the churches which he had planted — that at 
Philippi — made a collection for him, and sent it to 
him with good wishes and prayers. Their kindness 
to him at such a time touched his heart, and drew 
from him many kind words. He wrote them an af- 
fectionate letter which has been preserved and has a 
place in our New Testament as the Epistle to the 
Pliilippians, It stands among his many letters as one 
of the most tender, gentle, loving, and peaceful of 
them all, In the fourth chapter and the third verse 
he mentions a fellowdaborer whose name is Clement. 
John is thought by some to be identical with 
Clement of Rome. 


CLEMENT OF ROME 


43 


We have no reliable history to inform us of 
the early life of Clement, just as we have but little 
to tell us of the early life of our Lord’s disciples, 
and of the Lord Himself. In all probability he was 
a Jewish convert to Christianity, as was Paul and 
many of the leaders of the Christian Church in the 
first century. But though we know so little of his 
origin, we are not left in doubt as to his manhood 
and later life. He was an immediate disciple of the 
disciples of our Lord. He was the friend of several 
of them, knew them, was acquainted with their writ- 
ings, and occupied a most important and influential 
position in the church. 

POSSIBLY THE AUTHOR OF THE HEBREWS. 

Many have thought that Clement was the author of 
the Epistle to the Hebrews, and some have said that 
he wrote the Acts of the Apostles. It is certain that 
many other works were ascribed to him; so great and 
influential was his place and name. He was third 
Bishop of Rome and such has been the respect 
in which his name and memory have been held, 
that almost a score of the Bishops or Popes of 
Rome have taken and used his name. At what 
exact date he died it is not easy to say. Euseb- 
ius, a learned man, who was born in the year 260, A. d., 
and died about the year 340, A. d., tells a little about 
Clement. This man, Eusebius, was the most famous 
of scholarly men in the church in his day. He wrote 


u 


THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS 


a history of the church from the Apostolic times to 
his own. In this chronicle he places the death of 
Clement in the year 95, a. d. 

If this be correct, Clement was the Bishop of Home 
at the same time that John was Bishop at Ephesus. 
How many of the disciples he knew we cannot say; 
but it is certain that he was the friend of several. 
He would thus be in a most favored position for 
knowing what was the teaching of the Apostles re- 
specting our Lord’s life and death, the account of 
which we have in our Gospels. And he would know 
of the other parts of the New Testament if they were 
then in existence. Have we any evidence that he did 
know of the New Testament? Let us see. 

clement’s epistle still exists. 

Clement wrote an Epistle to the Corinthians, which 
fortunately is preserved to us to this day. ’ We have 
examined the precious old Bible called the Alexan- 
drian Manuscript, the famous Codex A., which 
is in the British Museum, and which was writ- 
ten about the middle of the fifth century. 
Bound up with the New Testament volume of that 
priceless treasure is to be found with other inspired 
writings the Epistle to the Corinthians which Clem- 
ent wrote. It has been translated into English 
and is now published together with the Epistle 
of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Her mas. 


CLEMENT'S EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 


45 


If yon get it and read it through you will find that 
it is saturated with the language of the New Testa- 
ment. In its doctrine, the style in which it is written, 
and its general thought, it is unquestionably based 
upon the New Testament. A copy of it lies before 
me and I have just been reading it again, and say 
without hesitation that it could never have been 
written by any man who did not know the New 
Testament as it was spoken and written by the 
disciples and Apostles of our Lord. It contains 
the words of Peter, James, John, and Luke. It has 
passages based upon the Epistles to the Romans, 
Corinthians, Thessalonians, Ephesians, Timothy, 
Titus, of James, of Peter, to the Hebrews, and the 
Acts of the Apostles. 

Here, then, is another and most valuable link in 
the chain of evidence which shows that our New 
Testament came from the disciples and Apostles of 
our Lord. It confirms me in the faith that my New 
Testament is the same in substance which the church 
in the first century possessed. For if the disciples 
had not spoken and written the contents of the 
New Testament in those years of the first century, 
Clement could not possibly have written in their 
language. It is almost impossible to overestimate 
the importance of the writings of these ancient saints 
and fathers. The testimony which they bear to the 
existence of our Gospels and Epistles is such that, 


46 


THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS 


whether we believe them or disbelieve them, we are 
forced to admit that the Gospels and Epistles were in 
existence, or these Fathers could not have quoted 
them in the language in which they are written as 
they have done. This will be more apparent and 
convincing when we have added the testimony of 
Polycarp and Papias to that of Clement. 


VII. 


POLYCARP THE DISCIPLE OF JOHN. 

OLYCARP’S name does not occur 
in the New Testament, but there 
are few of us who have not heard 
the story of his famous rejoinder 
to his persecutors. Brought before 
the Roman pro^Consul at Smyrna, 
he was given an opportunity of recanting while the 
fire was being prepared which was to consume his 
body. Urged by his judge, who was moved by Poly- 
carp’s extreme age, to curse Christ and so spare his 
life, he nobly answered: “ Eighty and six years have 
I served Him, and He never did me any wrong: how 
can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?” 

Polycarp was born about the year 70, A. d. He 
had the advantage of Christian training, and was 
instructed in the Christian faith from childhood. 
He became Bishop of Smyrna. The Church at 
Smyrna was one of the seven named in the Book 
of Revelation, and of which it was foretold that 
“ some should be cast into prison.” He was put to 
death as a martyr about the year 156, A. D., being 

burned alive for his faithfulness to J esus Christ. 

47 





48 


POLYCARP THE DISCIPLE OF JOHN 


Poly carp was a disciple of John, and was, some 
say, made bishop and set over the Church at Smyrna 
by the Apostle himself. If this be so, he must have 
early distinguished himself for his piety and devotion 
to religion. 

Smyrna was not far from Ephesus. The Apostle 
Paul made a long stay at Ephesus, and only left it a 
few years before Polycarp was born. About the date 
of his birth the Apostle John and several other dis- 
ciples settled in Asia Minor, John becoming the 
Bishop of the Church at Ephesus. Though Paul was 
dead at the birth of Polycarp, the memory of the 
great Apostle would linger long in the district of 
Ephesus among the churches which he planted, and 
with which he was so closely associated. 

In Polycarp, then, we have another 

MOST VALUABLE LINK IN OUE CHAIN. 

If the books of the New Testament were in existence 
he would certainly have known of it. And if we find 
that he did know then we may accept his testimony 
as important and undeniable. 

It seems that Polycarp wrote several Epistles 
to neighboring churches and some to private 
individuals; but with one exception all these have 
perished, and we now scarcely know their names. 
The one exception is a valuable letter which he 
sent to the church at Philippi, and which opens 


THE PHILIPPIAN LETTER 


49 


with the following sentence: — “ Polycarp and the 
presbyters that are with him, to the Church of God 
at Philippi: Mercy unto you, and peace, from God 
Almighty, and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, be 
multiplied.” 

We are very thankful that this letter has escaped 
the ravages of time, and exists to=day as standing 
evidence that when Polycarp lived our New Testa- 
ment was in existence, and was known to him. This 
letter of his shows clearly that the New Testament, 
even thus early, was so popular that it entered into 
the common life and language of the people. His 
letter to the Philippians is shaped in the language of 
our Scriptures, and it is evident even to a careless 
reader that it could not have been written at all except 
by a man who knew his New Testament. 

It is a very short epistle, covering only a few pages, 
as it is printed in an English translation. Its length 
will be better understood when I say that I have 
read it through, timing myself, in ten minutes . 1 
Yet short as this epistle is, it is long enough for our 
purpose. 

CHARACTER OF POLYCARP’S EPISTLE. 

We learn from it that Polycarp was a devout and 


1 “ Apostolic Fathers Part II., price 40 cts. The vol. also 
contains “ The Epistles of St. Ignatius ,” “ The Teaching of the 

Twelve ,” “ The Epistle to Diognetus,” <fcc., <fcc. 


50 


POLYCARP THE DISCIPLE OF JOHN 


pious man. We have already said that he had the 
advantage of Christian training, which was not lost 
upon him. From childhood he had listened to the 
great leaders and founders of the Church of Christ. 
He had sat at the feet of the saintly John, and from 
the lips of many who knew our Lord Himself; he 
had heard the story of our Lord’s life, death, resurrec- 
tion, and glorious ascension. He had heard them 
tell of the gift of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pen- 
tecost, and of the rapid spread of Christ’s teaching, 
and of the faithfulness of followers and their con- 
verts in times of trial and difficulty. All this had 
so filled his soul that he lived in close communion 
with God, and was deeply anxious for the welfare of 
the Church of God. 

In his letter he urges the Pliilippians to be consis- 
tent in their conduct, steadfast in their faith, and to 
manifest brotherly love ; while at the same time he 
warns them against falsehood, covetousness, and evil 
doing. Let us examine a few passages from this all- 
important letter. 

“Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind, 
serve the Lord with fear, and in truth; laying aside 
all empty and vain speech, and the error of many, 
believing in Him that raised up our Lord Jesus Christ 
from the dead, and hath given Him glory. . . . 

But He that raised up Christ from the dead shall 


DIVINE PRECEPTS 


51 


also raise up us in like manner, if we do His will, and 
walk according to His commandments, and love those 
things which He loved; abstaining from all unright- 
eousness, inordinate affection, and love of money; 
from evil speaking, false witness; not rendering evil 
for evil, or railing for railing, or striking for striking, 
or cursing for cursing; but remembering what the 
Lord has taught us, saying, ‘Judge not, and ye shall 
not be judged; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.’ ” 

“ Let us therefore serve Him in fear, and with all 
reverence, as both Himself has commanded, and as 
the Apostles who have preached the Gospel unto us, 
and the prophets who have foretold the Coming of 
our Lord have taught us; being zealous of what is 
good; abstaining from all offence and from false 
brethren, and from those who bear the name of Christ 
in hypocrisy, who deceive vain men. For whosoever 
does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, 
he is Antichrist: and whoever does not confess his suf- 
ferings upon the cross is from the devil; and whoso- 
ever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, 
and says that there shall neither be any resurrection 
nor judgment, he is the firstborn of Satan. Where- 
fore, leaving the vaunts of many, and their false doc- 
trines, let us return to the word that was delivered to 
us from the beginning: * Watching unto prayer,’ and 
persevering in fasting: with supplication beseeching 


52 


POLYCARP THE DISCIPLE OF JOHN 


the albseeing God ‘not to lead ns into temptation,’ 
as the Lord hath said, ‘ The spirit truly is willing, 
but the flesh is weak.’ ” 

PROOFS THAT THE GOSPELS WERE THEN WELL KNOWN. 

These short quotations will be sufficient to show 
the nature of the whole Epistle, and also to show how 
it abounds with the language of the New Testament. 
In these few lines we notice — (1) He states the fact 
of our Lord’s resurrection and ascension to glory. 
(2) He refers to the teaching of our Lord and His 
Apostles. (3) He refers to the oracles of our Lord, 
which was the word for the written Gospels. (4) 
He quotes the language of Peter, of Paul, of Matthew, 
and of John. 

In the whole Epistle, which occupies but ten min- 
utes to read, we find the language of Matthew, Luke, 
John, and the Acts of the Apostles; of the Epistle of 
Peter; and of Paul’s Epistles to the Romans, Corin- 
thians, Galatians, Thessalonians, Ephesians, Philip- 
pians, Colossians, Timothy, and Titus. 

Here, then, we get a link in our chain which con- 
nects us to the actual writers of the New Testament, 
and assures us, beyond all possibility of doubt, that 
the contents of our New Testament were in the hands 
of the men who lived before the last of the Apostles 
were dead. Could anything be more decisive? Does 
not this most clearly answer the question, Where did 
our Bible come from? I do not know of anything 


A LINK IN THE CHAIN 


53 


ancient for which there is fuller and clearer evidence 
of authenticity than that our New Testament came 
from the disciples and their friends in that First 
Century of the Christian era. We can strengthen 
this last link still more by a short notice of Papias, 
another of the three fathers who was alive in the 
year 75, 


A. D. 


VIII. 


PAPIAS. 

APIAS, like Polycarp, is not men- 
tioned in the New Testament, but 
he knew many of the men and the 
friends of the men who are named 
in it. In St. Paul’s Epistle to the 
Colossians (iv. 13,) you will find 
that he mentions Hierapolis. This place, now in ruins, 
lay only the short distance of a few miles from Laodicea, 
and was about one hundred miles on the east of 
Ephesus. A Christian Church was early planted 
there, and the Apostle Philip is said to have settled 
at that place. 

Papias was the Bishop of Hierapolis. He was the 
friend of Polycarp, from whom he received much 
instruction; and some have said that he was a disciple 
of the Apostle John. Papias wrote a work, called 
“ Interpretation of the Sayings of the Lord” The 
work seems to have been a large one; but, unfortu- 
nately, it is lost. Whether it has perished out of sight, 
or is hid away among the dust and lumber of some 
library or monastery, no one knows. The last trace of 
the book seems to be about the year 1218, A. d. Fortu- 
nately, quotations from the work are preserved in the 
54 



A FRIEND OF THE APOSTLE JOHN 


55 


writings of Iremeus and Eusebius; and though these 
portions thus preserved are not nearly so numerous 
as we would like, they are most valuable indeed. 
We know how the Sinai tic MS. was discovered when 
it had been thrown into a basket to be carried to the 
fire, It is not many years since other precious 
works of the early Christian times have been dis- 
covered; and if some day the work of Papias should 
be found, it would add one more priceless treasure to 
our ancient documents, and throw light upon our 
New Testament. 

HIS CAREFUL COLLECTING OF FACTS. 

Papias was well acquainted with the daughters of 
Philip, and would, doubtless, often hear from their 
lips the story which their father had told them of the 
chief events in the life of our Lord. It is said that 
Andrew settled in Asia Minor with the Apostle John, 
and that Papias knew both these Apostles; and many 
of the intimate friends of the Apostles were known to 
him. It will be interesting to look at a few lines from 
his work, which Eusebius has preserved for us: — 

“On any occasion when any person came [in my 
way] who had been a follower of the Elders, I would 
enquire about the discourses of the Elders — what was 
said by Andrew, or by Peter, or by Philip, or by 
Thomas or James, or by John or Matthew or any 
other of the Lord’s disciples, and what Aristian and 


56 


PAPIAS 


the Elder John, the disciples of the Lord, say. For I 
did not think that I could get so much profit from 
the contents of books as from the utterances of a liv- 
ing and abiding voice.” 

HIS EXCEPTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES. 

If we look carefully at this passage we will see 
how important it is. It shows us at once in what a 
favored position Papias was in regard to ascertain- 
ing the facts of the history contained in our New 
Testament. Notice carefully the following which is 
known concerning him: 1. He knew two men 
who were disciples of the Lord. 2. He knew the 
daughters of the Apostle Philip. 3. He had met 
men who knew many of our Lord’s disciples. 4. 
That he had conversation with them respecting the 
teaching of the disciples. 5. That he preserved 
“ books ” which contained these accounts. 6. That" 
he added to the teaching of the books all he could 
learn from living men. 1 

It is very evident that any word which this man 
speaks on the question of the New Testament will 
possess the greatest value. His testimony will be 
second only in importance to the New Testament 
itself. A man occupying his position, and taking the 
trouble to get the true account of our Lord’s work on 


1 Dr. Dale’s “ Living Church and the Four Gospels.” 


AN ANCIENT TESTIMONY 


57 


earth, will be sure to leave a record worthy of atten- 
tion. 

He tells us that Mark was a companion of Peter, 
and that Mark wrote a Gospel. He also tells us that 
Matthew wrote a Gospel in Hebrew. He appears to 
have been acquainted with the Gospel of John, and 
he quotes from the early Epistle of John, and one 
of the Epistles of Peter. He knew the Book of 
Revelation, and maintained that it was a divinely- 
inspired book. 

Though his testimony is not so full as that of 
Polycarp and Clement, it is only because we know 
less of him. If we had his whole work I have no 
doubt it would give greater testimony than either of 
the other Apostolic Fathers we have classed with him. 
He amply confirms what the others have said; and 
altogether they give such testimony as should 
make us all confident that our New Testament is not 
an invention but that it came direct from the Apos- 
tles of Jesus Christ. 

I conclude this chapter, believing that it should 
make any person who reads it feel sure that his New 
Testament is not an invention. However unlettered 
a person may be who reads and loves his New Testa- 
ment, he may continue to treasure and reverence it 
as the Word of Life, the Lamp of God, which has 
come to us from the holy Apostles themselves. 
Surely he may say, “ I now know of a truth that 


58 


P API AS 


this blessed Book has come down the ages, for I 
have seen that holy men in the Church of God have 
possessed it ever since the first century of the Chris- 
tian era. I know for myself, and shall be able to 
tell others ‘where our Bible came from.’” 


IX. 

ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE 
SCRIPTURES. 



S|HE books of the New Testament 
were originally written in the 
Greek language. At a very early 
date some of these books were 
translated and copied into the 
languages spoken by the men and 
women converted to Christianity who did not know 
Greek. 

The early versions of the Scriptures thus grew out 
of the necessities of the case. After our Lord’s ascen- 
sion to heaven, Christianity rapidly spread and took 
root in many lands. Within thirty years of the day 
of Pentecost there existed Christian churches, with their 
regular services and officers, in places far removed 
from each other. They were to be found in Europe 
and in Asia Minor, and Syria; also at Jerusalem, 
Caesarea, Antioch, and in Rome. They existed in 

Asia Minor, and in the cities along the coast. Churches 
59 



60 ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES 

were found in Philippi, Thessalonica, and at Corinth. 

Had the people in all these various places spoken 
the Greek language, their needs would have been 
met by multiplying copies of the original Greek 
books of the New Testament. But this was not so. 
It was necessary that the churches in these places 
should have records of the revelation which the Lord 
and His Apostles had made, in such language as they 
could understand. To meet their needs we know 
that translations were made. It is not easy to estimate 
the high value of these ancient versions of the Bible, 
bringing us back, as they do, to a date long before 
the oldest of our known manuscripts. They connect 
us with the Apostles, and form a most valuable 
chapter in the history of the Bible. If we can show 
that versions of the inspired books existed in the 
second century, we shall, of course, by that fact 
also show that the Scriptures themselves were in 
existence before that time , or they could not have been 
translated into those languages. 

Out of the multitude of ancient versions I select 
two for special examination. These two versions are 
called the Peshito, used in the Syrian churches, and 
the Old Latin produced for the North African Chris- 
tians. They were, so far as we know, the first ver- 
sions of the Scriptures made. It is thought by some 
that parts of these two versions were made within the 
Apostolic age , and that shortly afterwards the transla- 


THE SYRIAC VERSION 


61 


tions of the separate parts were collected, and, after 



r *>• • J 


Au, t£AM 
'*fSifi*arriT" Y^s^rSia-n 

t^VSrfcA. 1 


'fCiOO ALpa .^SoIsCi-n 
-r^^Criv ■rCiri' -M=>V30 
^3uiS Aoo. 

n^ocma-Tacv^^ »>am 
■>WN^t<^ ^Sw r£fcVt< 
*V\A>5>— '&W3 

-Ab» 

^nSkt^^a s^2k\ 

* 


«5ri 


SYRIAC MS. 


careful revision, 
were put togeth- 
er as completed 
books. Let us 
therefore exam- 
ine the charac- 
ter of these two 
versions. 

I.— THE PESHI- 
TO, OR SYRIAC 
VERSION. 

The Peshito, 
or Syrian Bible, 
contains the old- 
est Christian 
version of the 
New Testament 
known to the 
world. The lan- 
guage in which 
it was written 


(Exod. xiii. 14-16)— A. D. 464. 

(British Museum, Add. MS. 14; 425, 

Four books of the Pentateuch, viz: Genesis, 
Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, according 
to the Peshito version, in the Estrangela- 
Syriac character. Written in the city of Amid 
a.d. 464: the oldest dated Biblical manuscript in 
existence. From the monastery of St. Mary 
Deiyara in Nitrian Desert of Egypt, 


(the Syro-Chal- 
daic, or Arama- 
ic ) was the com- 
mon dialect 
spoken in Pales- 


62 ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES 

tine at the time of our Lord, though Greek was much 
used in business. 

It is quite impossible to fix the exact date of this 
ancient Syrian Bible. I venture to believe that parts 
of it were made in Apostolic times, and very likely 
under Apostolic direction. There is some evidence 
to show that messengers were sent from Edessa to 
Palestine to copy the sacred books, and that the 
Peshito version was made at a time before the last 
of the Apostles had passed away. We may take it 
as an admitted fact that the version was completed in 
the second century, and some time before the year 
150 , A. D. 

This ancient Syrian Bible is a most important 
book. It was always, regarded with respect, and in 
the earliest ages was received as an authoritative 
book. Indeed, we know that several other important 
versions were made from it into other languages — 
Arabic, Persian, and Armenian; and when the Syrian 
Church lost its unity, and split up into several oppos- 
ing sects, all received this version as of authority, 
and all used it in their public worship. 

These things all show it to have been of great 
importance. I venture the supposition that it may 
not only have been the most complete, but the most 
reliable collection of the sacred books then known to 
the world, except such as the church at Jerusalem 
may have possessed. The fact that it was probably 


THE SECOND CENTURY 


63 


a translation of many original manuscripts and 
careful copies of original manuscripts gave it an 
authority almost equal to the originals themselves. 

It is important now that we should note the books 
which this version contains. It includes the four 
Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and fourteen 
Epistles of St. Paul, 1st John, 1st Peter, and James. 
You will see that this list very nearly corresponds 
with our own New Testament. It only omits the 
second and third Epistles of St. John, the second 
Epistle of St. Peter, the Epistle of St. Jude, and the 
Book of Revelation. It is very important to notice 
that, though this ancient version omits five books 
contained in our New Testament, it does not include 
any book which is not to be found there. 

II.— THE OLD LATIN VERSION. 

We have seen that the Peshito version was early 
made for the Eastern churches. We now turn to the 
Old Latin version, which was made for the Western 
churches, and which has exerted an influence upon 
them which can never be told by the pen of mortal 
man. It was from this version that St. Jerome made 
his Latin Vulgate, which Vulgate became the Bible 
authority of the Roman Church, and remains so to 
this day. And for more than a thousand years it was 
the chief source of nearly every version of the Scrip- 
tures made in the West, 


64 ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES 

But though we cannot fix the exact date of this 
old version, we are in possession of evidence which 
certainly carries us back to the second century. It 
was well known to Tertullian and men of his day. 
He freely uses it, and shows that it was not only 
known, but current at the time when he was in the 
midst of his literary activity. 

Tertullian was born about 150 a . d . If we take 
that date as the year of his birth, and remember that 
the Old Latin version was in use in the African 
churches when he was a man and at work, it will not 
be unreasonable to suppose that it was written before 
the last quarter of the second century began. It 
may have been written much earlier, but it could 
scarcely have been much later. 

The question now comes as to what books this 
Old Latin version contained. It contained the four 
Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen Epistles of 
St. Paul, three Epistles of St. John, the First Epistle 
cf St. Peter, the Epistle of St. Jude, and the Book of 
Revelation. It omits the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
the Epistle of St. James, and the Second Epistle of 
St. Peter. It will thus be seen that it contains all 
except three of the books which form our own New 
Testament. 

If these two versions are put together, we shall get 
a more striking and important fact. We shall find 
that, with the single exception of the Second Epistle 


THE SECOND CENTURY 


65 


of Peter, which they both omit, they contain all the 
hooks which constitute our New Testament, hut no 
others. Respecting these two versions, several things 
should be noted. They were probably in common 
use by great bodies of Christians in the last half of 
the second century. The churches ivhich used them 
received them as the heritage of a previous age. 
They represented the New Testament which ivcis 
known, received, and revered, throughout the Chris- 
tian Church , including both East and West. 


PART II. — THE OLD TESTAMENT. 


X. 

OUR LORD’S BIBLE. 

Bible which our Lord possessed 
as the Book we know and love as 
le Old Testament. Before His 
/ucifixion there was not a single 
ook of the New Testament in ex- 
istence. The Bible which Jesus 
was taught to read as a child by that marvelous 
mother of His who knew the religious writings of her 
people, was the same old Book which our pious 
mothers teach their children to read in these days. 
The stories of Joseph and his coat of many colors, 
his slave and prison life in Egypt, and his exaltation 
to the place of command; of Samuel in the Taber- 
nacle at Shiloh called up in the night by the voice 
of God; of David and his sling and stone with which 
he brought down the giant Goliath of Gath. These 
stories filled the young mind and heart of Jesus of 
Nazareth just as they interest boys of to-day all over 
the world wherever our Bible is known. 



ONE STEP AT A TIME 


67 


The fact that the books which form our Old Tes- 
tament are the same which composed the Bible of 
the age in which Christ lived and died would be suf- 
ficient evidence to convince millions that it must 
have come from the inspired prophets of ancient days. 
For them it would be enough to know that it was 
read and honored and approved by their Divine 
Lord. If it had His sanction and that of His holy 
apostles, nothing else could be wanting. If it could 
be traced no farther back than the hands of Jesus 
Christ, His possession of it would furnish all the 
proof they would need. 

THE BIBLE OUR LORD USED. 

I shall, however, ask the reader to go with me 
much beyond the first of the Christian centuries; 
but we must take one step at a time, and make as 
sure as we can of our footing at each stride we take. 

I want now to show that the Old Testament which 
we have was the Bible of our Lord and His Apostles. 

“Ye search the Scriptures,” said our Savior to the 
men of His time, “ because ye think that in them ye 
have eternal life; and these are they which bear wit- 
ness of me .” 1 The Bereans are commended because 
“ They searched the Scriptures daily.” 2 Paul says 
that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God .” 3 
St. Luke tells us that our Lord, “ Beginning at Moses 


Revised Version, John v. 39. 2 Acts xvii. 11. 3 2 Tim. iii. 16. 


68 


OUR LORD'S BIBLE 


and all the prophets, expounded unto them in all the 
Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” 1 And 
he tells us how the hearts of two disciples “ Burned 
within them while He opened to them the Scrip- 
tures.” 2 

The question at once arises, What Scriptures were 
they to which such frequent reference is made by our 
Lord and His Apostles? Did they mean the Old 
Testament we have, or some other? 

WE HAVE THE SAME BOOK. 

Any one who will take up a Reference Bible will 
very soon find out that Jesus, John, Luke, Mark, 
Paul, and the rest of the New Testament writers, had 
the same Old Testament which we prize. They are 
constantly referring to it and quoting from it. Let 
us see what use they made of it. 

It would occupy too much space to mention all 
their quotations; and if we were to specify all their 
references, direct and indirect, we should find them 
to be very numerous. Each of the writers of the 
New Testament refers to the Old Testament, and 
they quote from most of its books. There are in the 
New Testament 190 references to the five books of 
Moses; 101 references to the book of Psalms; 104 
references to the book of Isaiah ; and 30 references to 
minor prophets. There are in the New Testament 


1 Luke xxiv. 27. 2 Luke xxiv. 32. 


THE SAME TRUTHS 


69 


some 639 references to the Old. These 639 references 
are spread over the entire New Testament, for all the 
Gospels and all but three of the Epistles contain 
quotations from or references to the Old Testament 
in some shape. In the four Gospels there are 191 
references; 52 in the Acts; 67 in Romans; and so 
on. 1 

WE READ THE SAME TRUTHS. 

It will at once be obvious that when w T e take up 
our Bible, and turn to read in the Old Testament 
portion of it, our eyes fall upon the same histories, 
prophecies, and poems that Christ’s eyes rested upon. 

When we hear passages read from Genesis, Isaiah, 
or the Psalms, we listen to the same truths which the 
Apostles and their Divine Master read and expounded 
in the ancient Jewish synagogues. • We may with 
safety conclude that the Old Testament we have is 
the same which the Lord Himself used. 

It matters but little to us that the original Hebrew 
manuscripts have perished. It will not in the least 
affect the object we have in view to say that the oldest 
existing Hebrew document does not date back more 
than a thousand years. We know beyond all possi- 
bility of doubt that nearly two thousand years ago 
the Old Testament was in existence. Our Lord 
could not have read it had it not been there. It 


1 For details see “ Angus' Bible Handbook ,” p. 333. 


70 


OUR LORD'S BIBLE 


would have been impossible for Him to expound the 
Scriptures from Moses and the prophets, if Moses 
and the prophets had not been in His hands and 
accessible to His hearers. 


XI. 


THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE BEFORE 
CHRIST CAME. 

ET us now go back to the ancient 
centuries to peep at people who 
lived three hundred years before 
Christ came on earth. It is a long 
way back; but we need not be 
alarmed for the Old Testament 
records events thousands of years earlier, and the last 
of its writers died before the time of which I am now 
writing. We want to know something about an old 
Bible which had a strange name, but which had a wide 
circulation, was very popular in many places, and in a 
wonderful way was blessed of God in preparing the 
nations for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which was to 
be published when God had all things ready for it. 

This book was called the Septuagint. It has a 
great deal to do with our Bible, and we cannot find 
out where ours really came from unless we know a 
little of this. This Septuagint Bible was in the 
Greek language, and was made from the Hebrew 
about the year 280, b. o. It was the first com- 
71 



72 THE PEOPLE'S BIBLE BEPOBE CHRIST CAME 

plete translation of the Old Testament from the 
original that was ever made that we know of, and was 
certainly the most important. 

I should like to tell if I could how it was made, 
but unfortunately we have not much real history to 
guide us. 

ITS ORIGIN. 

There are several pleasant stories which profess to 
tell of its origin. One of these says that the Egyp- 
tian King, Ptolemy Philadelplius, was anxious to 
have a translation of the Hebrew Bible, of which 
he had heard much, that it might adorn the 
great library which there was at Alexandria in the 
third century before Christ. The king’s librarian, 
Demetrius, told his majesty that he would never get 
the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures so long as 
he held so many Jews in slavery in his country. 

The story goes on to say that the king set a vast 
number of Jewish slaves free, and then sent valu- 
able presents to the high priest, at Jerusalem, and 
asked for scholars to be sent to him to make him a 
Greek Bible. The high priest and other officials 
were greatly delighted, and selected six learned 
men from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, and 
sent off the seventy-two thus chosen to Alexandria 
to do the work the king wished done. For these 
men he provided each a separate room, and they 
began their work. In seventy-two days each 


THE SEPTUAGINT 


n 


man had produced a translation, and when they 
compared them it was found that each copy ex- 
actly agreed with all the rest! This was taken to 
be an evidence that God had inspired them all. 
Not many believe the story now; but Josephus 
and many of the early Christian fathers not only 
told it, but doubtless believed it. 

There is one thing about which we can be tolerably 
certain, and that is that the Septuagint, which had 
this name because of the seventy men engaged upon 
its translation, was made in the third century before 
Christ, and probably about the year 285, b. o. 

Let me state, in few words, why I think it was 
made. It is well known to historians that when the 
Jews returned from captivity to their own land, they 
had almost forgotten the Hebrew language. This is 
not to be wondered at. Of those who came back 
only the smallest remnant had seen the land before. 
Two generations of them had been born in the land 
of captivity. In touch with the life of another nation 
and surrounded by influences that were powerful, it 
was no wonder that they ceased to speak the language 
of their forefathers. 

Suppose a number of Welslnspeaking people, 
knowing only their own language, had been trans- 
planted from their own country to the heart of the 
United States, and that they and their children 
remain there for seventy years — what would happen 


74 THE PEOPLE'S BIBLE BEFORE CHRIST CAME 

as to their language? In twenty- three years some of 
the children of these Welsh parents, born in the 
United States, would be married. In another 
twenty -three years more grandchildren would be 
married. A quarter of a century later the greats 
grandchildren would be married. Thus in about 
seventy years, all those who had come from Wales 
would either have died, or, if living, would be of a 
great age. Do you think these children, grand- 
children, and great-grandchildren would be still speak- 
ing Welsh? Their language would have dropped 
out of use. This was the case with the Jews. They 
had largely forgotten Hebrew. 

But vast numbers of Jews never returned at all. 
When the last of the exiles reached home, about the 
year 445, B. c., they left behind them a larger number, 
known as the Jews of the Dispersion. The Septua- 
gint was made about one hundred and sixty years 
after the last company of Jews had returned to 
Palestine under Nehemiah. During that period the 
Jewish race had multiplied and spread enormously in 
those Eastern lands. 

GREEK WAS THE COMMON TONGUE 
of these Jews in many lands, and to meet their re- 
quirements and fulfil the purpose of God the Septua- 
gint or Greek translation of the Bible was made. It 
released the people from their dependence upon the 
priests for the Word of Life. 


PREPARATION FOR CHRISTS COMING 


75 


ITS INFLUENCE. 

Tlie influence of this old Bible was marvelous, and 
the effect it produced in the world can never be told. 
It put the Scriptures into the hands of the people. 
It was the wide and far-reaching influence of this 
Book which prepared the world for the coming of 
the Great Prince, whose star the wise men who came 
to the cradle of the infant Christ had seen in the 
East. And it did more than anything else to pre- 
pare the Eastern world for the reception of Chris- 
tianity. Our Bible came through this channel. 


XII. 


THE FOUNTAIN-HEAD. 



NE step more, and we are at the 
fountain-head. It is but a short 
journey from the Septuagint, the 
Bible of the LXX, (as it is often 
called) to the original source from 
whence flows the stream of Old 


Testament inspiration. 

We have assumed that the date of the Greek ver- 
sion is the year 285, B. c., and that it was made by 
scholarly men from Hebrew manuscripts, and was the 
first ever so made. 

If we can find out anything about their Hebrew 
manuscripts, and be sure they were there, we should 
know where the Old Testament portion of our Bible 
came from, for we shall be at the original sources. 
Let us see. 

In the eighth chapter of the book of Nehemiah 
there is a marvelous description of the reading of the 
law which is worthy of careful attention. In a broad 

open space before one of the gates of Jerusalem there 
76 


THE GREAT SYNAGOGUE 


77 


is an immense congregation. On a pulpit of wood 
Ezra stands up to read the law of God to the newly 
returned exiles. Assisted by the chief men, he trans- 
lates and expounds the Word of the Lord. Day after 
day this continues. The effect of this is that a few 
weeks later all the people confess their sins, and enter 
into a solemn promise to keep and observe the Law. 

This is made all the more impressive by the fact 
that the priests, the Levites, and the chief men of the 
tribes solemnly sign their names on a parchment roll, 
and seal it as a sacred document to witness what they 
have done. 1 

THE “ GREAT SYNAGOGUE.” 

The Jews tell us that the names on the list thus 
made formed the first members of the Great Syna- 
gogue. The chief work of the synagogue, which was 
a most important body, was to collect, select, and pre- 
serve to the world all the MSS. which compose the 
Hebrew Scriptures. Ezra was its first president; and 
at different times it had as members such men as 
Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Zerubbabel, and 
Nehemiah. It is supposed to have ceased about the 
year 300, b. o. 2 

From the day when Ezra read the Hebrew Scrip- 
tures, and the solemn covenant was made by the 

1 See Nehemiah viii. x. 

2 Smith’s “ Bible Dictionary .” Article, “ Synagogue, the Great.” 


78 


THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES 


people, as recorded in Nehemiah, to the day when the 
Septuagint was made, there is a space of time of only 
about one hundred and sixty years. The reading of the 
Law took place about 445, B. c. And the Septuagint 
was completed about 285, B. c. This is but a short 
interval. The two dates are sufficiently near for us 
to assume that the men who made the Greek version 
used the best known manuscripts; many of them, no 
doubt, the actual original documents bearing the 
signatures of their inspired authors. 

THE JEALOUS CARE OF THE SACRED BOOKS. 

We know how carefully and jealously the Hebrews 
guarded their sacred books. Josephus says: “ Dur- 
ing so many ages as have already passed, no one has 
been so bold as to either add anything to them or 
take anything from them, or to make any change in 
them; but it becomes natural to all Jews, immediately 
and from their very birth, to esteem those books to 
contain Divine doctrines and to persist in them, and 
if occasion be, willingly to die for them.” 1 

We have now established the fact that the Septua- 
gint was a Greek translation of the original Hebrew 
Bible — the messages which Moses, the Prophets, and 
the Psalmists, spoke to their fellow-countrymen, ren- 
dered in the Greek tongue. As our Old Testament 
contains the books of the Hebrew Scriptures, which 


l4 ‘ Josephus against Apion ,” Book I, sec. 8. 


THE FOUNTAIN-HEAD TRANSLATED 


79 


were translated into Greek for the Septuagint version, 
are we not safe in saying that the Old Testament por- 
tion of onr precious Bible came from the men whom 
God in olden times inspired to tell forth His mind 
and will concerning the salvation of the world by 
Christ Jesus? 


PART III.— OUR ENGLISH BIBLE. 


XIII. 

THE FIRST VERSIONS. 

E have now traced the Bible to its 
source. Step by step we have gone 
backward until we have reached 
the fountain from which came 
the water of life. Henceforth we 
shall always understand how to 
answer the question, “ Where did the Bible come 
from?” We are now assured that the New Testa- 
ment we have was possessed by the churches in the 
closing years of the first century. The Gospels 
which are in our hands to=day w T ere in the hands 
of the Christian churches before the last of the 
Apostles had passed away. The Epistles which 
we possess as a sacred heritage and treasury of the 
highest Christian knowledge were in the hands 
of the bishops and officers of the churches eighteen 
hundred years ago. 

The same words of hope, and love, and light which 

inspire and quicken us, came with all their force and 
80 



THE FOUR-FOLD PICTURE 


81 


power to the Apostolic Fathers. The story of our 
Lord’s life and death, resurrection and ascension to 
heaven, which our Gospels unfold, is the same story 
which the Apostles related in the hearing of the 
men who put our Lord to death. It is the same story 
which two of the disciples and two of their friends 
and companions wrote in the fourfold picture of our 
Redeemer which the Gospels contain. All this should 
deepen our love for the New Testament. 

And we are equally confident regarding the Old 
Testament. It is the sacred Scriptures of the 
Jewish nation and all converted to their faith and 
was possessed by our Lord and His Apostles. It is 
helpful to feel that when we teach our children the 
stories of the Patriarch, the sweet music of the 
Psalms, and the eloquent words of the Prophets, we 
are teaching them what Jewish parents taught their 
children in the time of our Lord. Nay, our Lord 
Himself was taught these same things when He was 
a child; and we see how the Scriptures entered into 
His very life. 

ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS. 

We have now another question to deal with, rather 
different from the one we have answered. The Old 
Testament was originally written in the Hebrew lan- 
guage, and the New Testament in the Greek language. 
To us these are strange and foreign tongues. They 
are languages which the masses of our people do not 


82 


THE FIRST VERSIONS 


know. But we have the Bible in English. When 
and how was it put into the English language? 

This is a most interesting question, and I will 
answer it as well as I can. In answering the question 
where the Bible came from, I have gone backward 
step by step. But in answering the question of the 
translation of the ancient Scriptures into the English 
language, I shall adopt a different method. I shall 
go back to the earliest information I can get, and 
then work forward step by step to our own times. 
A short history of our English Bible should not be 
without interest for us. 

FIRST TRANSLATED INTO LATIN. 

St. John in his Gospel tells us that Pilate placed 
on the cross of Jesus the words, “Jesus of Nazareth, 
the King of the Jews ” ; and Luke says the same — 
and that the words were in Hebrew, Greek, and 
Latin. These three are the languages which have 
had much to do with the sacred Scriptures. The Old 
Testament was written in Hebrew, the New Testa- 
ment in Greek; and by the middle of the second 
century both Old and New Testaments were translated 
into Latin. It was in Latin that we had the Scrip- 
tures at first; and, so far as we know, for many 
centuries English-speaking people had to get the 
story of the redemption from this language. 

THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION A GROWTH. 

I do uot think any one can tell when the English 


A MULTITUDE OF AGENCIES 


speaking people first had the Scriptures in their own 
tongue. It is quite certain that at a very early period 
the Latin Bible, known as the Latin Vulgate, was 
the Bible of the clergy and that used in public wor- 
ship. It may have been that some portions of the 
Scriptures w T ere translated into the common language 
of the people at a very early date; but it is doubtful if 
many were able to read them. Our English version 
is the growth of ages, and cannot be ascribed to any 
one man. The Old and the New Testaments in the 
original languages were the work of many men. 
God used a multitude of agencies, and sent us His 
revelations through a number of human channels 
In like manner, the production of the English Bible 
in its latest form, the Revised Version, has been 
secured by many men, working in different ways, 
each doing his share — God guiding the whole; until 
we have now what many hold to be the best English 
Bible the world has ever seen. 

I cannot go through the history of all the transla- 
tions; but will mention a few. I propose, first, to re- 
fer briefly to some of the early workers at our Bible; 
then to describe the work of Wycliffe, and of Tyndale, 
and a few others. 

ST. JEROME AND HIS VULGATE. 

If we should go to Bethlehem, and visit the church 
built over the spot where our Savior is said to have 
been born, the guide will take us to the Chapel and 


84 


The first versions 


Tomb of St. Jerome. About 883, A. d., Jerome, 
who was one of the most scholarly men of his times, 


■j?C ej’lH 1C W 




CTT CON^CHDN \B1T€?V([T3 

Rir^c^Xti z>i Re-? 

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O^JSspseTCicRix 
/A6D0001Ne( 

^ m 3 u t/VT p e RLoc-\iv RJ 


jT*orp KU0NIT 
vTUNGt));CIT( 
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0ti NTR^xesb A3 rr»vW 
Cnr ri u ntn Ogi i s s i cn A 

boa>VNlsU,kius 

LATIN GOSPELS. 

(St. Matt. xii. 42-45)— Sixth century. 

(British Museum, Harley MS. 1775.) 

The Four Gospels, in Latin, of the version nf Qofr,* 
Jerome, written in uncial letters in the sixth <S£twy S 

went to Rome. The Bishop of Rome at that time 
was named Damasus, and he at once asked Jerome 


THE VULGATE 


85 


who had become his secretary, to undertake the task 
of correcting and improving the Latin Bible then 
used in the Western churches. He consented; and 
in 385, A. d., he completed the revision of the New 
Testament. After the death of Damasus, which oc- 
curred in the same year, J erome retired to Bethlehem 
where he founded a monastery, and where he livedior 
thirty years engaged in useful works, pious devotions 
and learned studies. It was here in the sixtieth year 
of his age that he began a new translation into Latin 
of the Old Testament from the Hebrew, a task which 
not many men in his time were competent to perform. 
He died at Bethlehem in September, 420, A. d. 

His work was known as the Vulgate, and was the 
only Bible which the English possessed for some cen- 
turies. For more than a thousand years it was the 
Bible from which every version in English was made. 
It is the Bible followed by the Roman Catholics in 
all their translation work. What is called the Douay 
Bible, with the Rhenish New Testament, was made 
from the Vulgate. 


XIV. 


THE SCRIPTURES IN ANGLO-SAXON. 

ET us imagine ourselves for a mo- 
ment or two in a monastery at 
Jarrow-on-Tyne, on a quiet even- 
ing in May, 735, A. D. There, sur- 
rounded by his loving students, we 
might see an old man quietly dying. 
This was the venerable and beloved Bede, the most 
famous scholar of his day. 

Bede undertook to translate the Gospel of St. J ohn 
into the Anglo-Saxon, the language of the people of 
England at that time. Before his work was done, he 
fell sick and drew nigh unto death; but he would not 
relinquish his task. Calling his boy-pupil, Cuthbert, 
to his side, he bade him write while he dictated. 
It must have been a pathetic and touching sight to see 
him spending his last hours on earth in putting the 
writings of John into the common language of the 
people. 

“There remains but one sentence, master!” said 
his pupil. 

“Write quickly,” said the dying man. 

Soon the writer said, “ It is finished, master.” 

“ True, it is finished,” said the dying saint. 

86 



the Venerable bede 


87 


He had been raised at his own request; and softly 
chanting, “ Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, 
and to the Holy Ghost,” his spirit took its flight and 
passed to the celestial city. 

TRANSLATION BY A KING. 

There were others before Bede who had done a 
little in translating some portions of the Bible. 

Toward the close of the seventh century, metrical 
paraphrases of parts of the Bible were written by 
Caedmon, a servant at one of the Yorkshire Abbeys; 
and a little later Aldhalm, Bishop of Sherborne, trans- 
lated fifty of the Psalms. This interesting work (the 
oldest of the many attempts to give the Bible in the 
vernacular of the English people) is still extant in a 
manuscript in the National Library, Paris. 

We may now pass on to notice the work of King 
Alfred the Great. 

Of all the kings who ever bore the title of Great, 
the Saxon king perhaps deserved it most; for he was 
a most remarkable man — a Christian, a scholar, a 
soldier, a statesman, and a king all in one. 

Alfred was born at Wantage, in Berkshire, England, 
in the year 849, a. d. This was a little more than a 
century after the venerable Bede had passed away. 
Alfred had the advantage of a loving and pious mother, 
who not only trained him in the practice of virtue, 
but created in him a spirit of patriotism, and the love 


88 


THE SCRIPTURES IN ANGLO-SAXON 


of learning. When he was a child of six years, he 
was taken by his father to Rome, and though so young, 
received impressions which were permanent. Amid 
the studies of his youth he obeyed the call to arms, 
fought the battles of his country, and began to reign 
when he was about twenty4wo years of age. 

Many stories are told of Alfred which are interest- 
ing. Most of us have read or heard of his experi- 
ence as a baker in the cottage of one of his own peo- 
ple. Pressed by some necessity, he one day took 
refuge in the cottage of a laborer. The woman of 
the house did not know who he was, and bade him 
tend some cakes which were baking on the hearth. 
He was busy with his weapons, and forgot or neg- 
lected to turn the cakes as he should have done, and 
they were burnt. When the good dame of the house 
saw how he had spoiled her cakes, she gave him a 
good scolding. It is said that he bore the reproof 
with the same grace with which he forgave the 
woman when she learned who he was. 

Alfred was a man who practiced strict discipline 
and great regularity in all things. His day of twenty == 
four hours was divided into three equal portions. 
He gave eight hours to business, eight hours to study 
and devotion, and eight hours to sleep and bodily 
exercise. In those days clocks and watches were not 
so common as now, so he invented a plan to measure 
his time accurately. He had candles of certain 


ALFRED THE GREAT 


89 


lengths and thicknesses made, which he consumed in 
lanterns, he knowing how long each would burn. 

He took part in no less than fifty^six battles, and 
is said to have founded the English monarchy. He 
built England’s first fleet of ships; established a 
militia; rebuilt many ruined cities, among them Lon- 
don; saved his people in time of war; ruled them 
wisely and well in times of peace; gave them wise, 
just, and humane laws; greatly encouraged commerce 
and manufactures; devoted a seventh of his entire 
revenue to public works; and founded schools and 
seats of learning. He died in the year 901, when but 
fifty4wo years of age, after having reigned for thirty 
years. He concerns us now as a translator of the 
Scriptures. He intensely loved his Bible, and was 
anxious that his people should be able to read it in 
their own language. Accordingly, he worked upon 
a translation of the Psalms, a portion of the Bible 
specially popular in all ages, and also upon the Gos- 
pels. His work was cut short by his somewhat early 
death; and, although we have no actual manuscript 
from his hand, doubtless his influence was felt in the 
subsequent Saxon translations. 

THE WORK OF ^LFRIC. 

After the death of Alfred there came a long pause 
in Bible translation. Here and there, it is true, a 
little was done. Passing from King Alfred’s w T ork in 


90 THE SCRIPTURES IN ANGLO SAXON 

the ninth century, we learn that at the close of the 
tenth, or early in the eleventh, the first seven books 
of the Old Testament were partly translated by an 
Archbishop of Canterbury named iElfric. 



In the early part of the fourteenth century there 
were two prose versions of the Psalms. But it does 


ALFRED THE GREAT 


91 


not appear that the whole Bible was ever known in 
the English language at an earlier date than the days 
of John Wycliffe, whose work we will notice in our 
next chapter. 


XV. 


JOHN WYCLIFFE. 



HE year 1382 is the earliest date at 
which it can with certainty be said 
that the entire Scriptures were 
known in the English language. 
This was chiefly the work of John 
Wycliffe, the “ Morning Star of 


the Keformation,” at whose life and work we must 
now rapidly glance. Wycliffe lived in dark and try- 
ing times. The Church of God had sunk to a sad 
and desperate condition of spiritual decay. The lives 
of the clergy were a reproach to the name of religion. 
Men were promoted to high position in the Church 
who were not only intellectually unfit, but who were 
scandalously impure in their conduct. The upper 
classes, too, were flagrantly wicked and unchaste. 

REFORMER AND TRANSLATOR. 

John Wycliffe was perhaps the first reformer in 
England who dared to stand alone and rebuke the 
leaders of the Church, and fearlessly assert the free- 
dom of religious thought and teaching against the 
dogmas of the Pope. 

It is with Wycliffe as a translator of the Bible that 
92 


THE BIBLE IN THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE 93 


we have to deal. He labored hard to put the Word 
of God into the common language of the people, and 
succeeded to an extent which none before him had 
done. 

THE FIRST COMPLETE ENGLISH BIBLE. 

The whole of the New Testament, which was issued 
first, was the work of the reformer himself, but in 
the translation of the first half of the Old Testament 
he was assisted by Nicholas de Hereford, one of his 
friends at Oxford. About 1382 he was able to send 
forth the whole Bible in the English tongue as gen- 
erally spoken, and it was then that the people became 
possessed of that unspeakable treasure, the Word of 
God. The Bible was no longer merely the property 
of the priests and the few scholarly men of the time. 
It was now to be had in the mother-tongue of 
the people; and .the dream of many — to enable 
every plowboy to read the Bible — was in a fair 
way of being realized. Wycliffe’s Bible had a large 
circulation. But we must remember that it 
was in MS., for printing was not yet invented. 

It is impossible fully to measure the influence 
which Wycliffe’s Bible had upon the English people 
and upon the world. It was eagerly sought after by 
the people. Though it was sold at a high price, its 
treasure came down to the very poorest. Wycliffe’s 
preachers went about the country reading the pages 
of the book, and telling of its contents in their ser- 


94 : 


JOHN WYCLIFFE 


mons; and often parties were gathered together to 

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nmtVRftogytf raietCmRn»n> i/ffn) 

WYCLIFFE’S BIBLE. 

(Mark xv. 33-41)— Late Fourteenth century. 
(British Museum, Add. MS. 15,580.) 

This MS. contains the earlier Wyclift'e translation, which 
was completed about the year 1382. Wycliffe died in 1384. 
A later version, the work of John Purvey, was issued in 


hear some one read a page or two, or recite their con- 
tents, 


THE HOME CALL 


95 


This great work of Wycliffe laid all succeeding 
ages under deep obligation to him. As a translation 
it was not so perfect as the Bible which we now 
happily possess, We must recollect that it was but a 
translation of Jerome’s Vulgate, that is, a translation 
of a translation. Men in those days had not access 
to the original MSS. of which we have spoken. 
wycliffe’s persecution and trial. 

Wycliffe’s work was so w T ell done that its influence 
remains upon our version to this day. Unfortunately, 
however, the men in office and power in the Church 
in Wycliffe’s time did not appreciate the work of 
such a Reformer. Not only did he publish the Bible 
in the language of the people in 1382, but before 
doing this he had attacked the false and wicked posi- 
tion of the leaders in the Church; and for this attack 
he was called to account. He was summoned to 
appear before a great council at a monastery at 
Blackfriars, in May, 1382, with Courtenay, the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, presiding. There he stood 
alone — tall, pale, and thin. That brave man pre- 
sented a great contrast to the dignitaries, clothed in 
their purple and satin and damask gowns, as he stood 
before his judge, surrounded by scowling abbots and 
monks, and bishops and priests. 

You may ask, For what offense is this poor, pale, 
friendless clergyman brought here? Has he been 
guilty of some grave crime? Does some nameless 


96 


JOHN WYCLIFFE 


immorality sit upon his head? Has he been impure, 
unchaste, and wicked? Had such been his offense, 
he might easily have escaped. He had been guilty 
of a serious offense. He had attacked the Church, 
and denounced the sinful practices of some of her 
priests and monks As did Luther at a later date, he 
spoke boldly against the sale of indulgences, and 
against masses for the souls of the dead, as systems 
of fraud and dishonesty. 

Some consternation was caused during his trial by 
an earthquake which made London tremble. Many 
of the men in that assembly grew pale; but the Arch- 
bishop declared that the trial must go on, and said 
that as the earthquake purged away the evil odors in 
the earth, so the trial would purge away the evil in 
the hearts of men which Wycliffe and his followers 
had introduced into the land. 

The result of the trial was that after some days’ 
consideration, a solemn condemnation was issued 
against the teaching of Wycliffe, and all who taught 
or received his doctrines. He returned to his home 
and his church at Lutterworth; and there, during the 
last two years of his life, amid hib books and poor 
parishioners, he translated and published the Bible as 
described above. 

Doubtless much material had been gathered for 
this work during the earlier and busier portion of his 
life; but at Lutterworth he had the needful leisure 


THE HOME CALL 


97 


for the completion of his life-work. He was assisted 
by his curate, John Purvey, in the work of revising 
and editing the whole; and transcribers then took in 
hand the task of multiplying copies, of which nearly 
one hundred and fifty were finished within forty years 
of Wycliffe’s death. The home^call of the Reformer 
was tragic in its swiftness. On the last Sunday of 
1384 he was administering the Lord’s Supper in his 
church. In that awful moment he fell to the floor, 
was seized with a fit of palsy and never recovered, 
lingering only to the last day of the year, when his 
soul passed on to that land where all is peace and love. 
But what a priceless legacy he left behind him ! 


XVI. 


WILLIAM TYNDALE. 

ROM Wycliffe to Tyndale we take a 
stride of one hundred years. It is 
a long step to take, and it is a most 
important one. During that period 
a great discovery had been made, 
which was destined to play a great 
part, not only in the history of the Bible, but in the 
spread of knowledge all over the world: I mean the 
invention of printing. Wycliffe’s Bible, and all books 
up to his time and after, were in writing. Monks in 
their cells and learned men in their studies toiled at 
the work of copying out the Bible with the pen. 
But when Tyndale was ready to issue his New Testa- 
ment in English, he had the printing press to help 
him to multiply copies and spread them throughout 
England thick as autumn leaves. 

THE PRINTING PRESS. 

The printing press had at least a twofold effect 
upon the translation and spread of the Bible. In- 
stead of men having to work for weary months at copy- 
ing the Bible with the pen, its sheets could be struck 
98 





TRANSLATING THE SCRIPTURES 


99 


off at a rapid rate. If the reader will sit down and 
write one page of the Bible, and mark how long it 
takes him, and then multiply the number of minutes 
w 7 hicli it occupies with the whole number of pages of 
the Bible, he will get some idea of the length of 
time taken to produce one copy of the Bible, without 
allowing any time at all for the initial letters and 
flourishes with which most of the Bibles were illus- 
trated and adorned in the Middle Ages and after- 
wards. Let the same reader stand in a printing 
office and see with what rapidity the press throws 
off the sheets of the Bible. 

Then, too, the printing press enables the Bible to be 
produced at a greatly reduced cost. In John 
Wycliffe’s time Bibles were very costly indeed. 
There is a great difference in the purchasing power 
of money now and then; but it is estimated that in 
the fourteenth century a copy of the English Bible, 
as translated by Wycliffe, was worth a sum quite 
equal to $200 of American money. In our days a 
complete Bible can be had for twenty^five cents. 
This great invention of printing has been used to the 
full in the production and spread of the Scriptures. 
Every year millions of copies of the Scriptures, in 
whole or in part, are circulated in over three hundred 
languages and dialects. 

It is almost impossible for us to understand and 
appreciate the effect produced upon the life of Eng- 


100 


WILLIAM TYNDALE 


land by the rapid circulation and reading of Tyn- 

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TYNDALE’S NEW TESTAMENT. 

(British Museum, Greenville Library.) 

The only remaining fragment, consisting of 31 
leaves, of the first edition, printed at Cologne in 
1525. The earliest specimen of a printed version of 
the Scriptures in English. 

dale’s Bible and those which immediately followed it. 
It was the one great book which England read. It 


TYNDALE AND HIS WORK 


101 


did not take many years to make it the Bible of the 
people; and it, more than any other work, made Eng- 
lish men and women the people of the Bible. It was 
read in all sorts of places, under all kinds of circum- 
stances, and by all sorts of people. It rapidly found 
its way to the Universities. It was read by the mer- 
chants, the workers, and the plowboys. At the 
seats of learning, in the churches, and in the homes 
of the people, the music of that Book fell upon listen- 
ing ears, and produced marvelous results. It kin- 
dled a remarkable enthusiasm among the people, 
quickened the moral sense of the country, and deep- 
ened the religious life of the nation. “ The people 
who sat in darkness saw a great light.” 

TYNDALE AND HIS WORK. 

But we must tell the story of Tyndale and his 
work. When William Tyndale was born, about the 
year 1484, John Wycliffe had been dead one hundred 
years, and the great reformer, Martin Luther, was 
about one year old. The times were full of action 
and hope. The fifteenth century, in which he was 
born, and the sixteenth, in which he did his work, 
were centuries crowded with influences and forces 
which produced the great and powerful England of 
to day. Wycliffe and his Lollards had sown the seed 
of the Keformation, which took root and was to bear 
fruit during these centuries. It was the age of the 


102 


WILLIAM TYNDALE 


revival of learning — of patriots, of discoveries, mar- 
tyrs, saints and lieroes. It was the era of able men 
in many departments of life; and England saw a 
great outburst of enthusiasm, which quickened its 
social, intellectual, and religious life. 

Not the least in importance stood William Tyndale, 
the Gloucestershire boy. In early life he was sent to 
Oxford, where he won distinction while quite young, 
Afterwards he went to Cambridge, and came in con- 
tact with those influences which pushed him on in 
the great work of his life. Here he met with Erasmus, 
the foremost Greek scholar of the day, who published 
the first Greek New Testament. Here, too, he be- 
came a Greek scholar, and was enabled to read and 
translate from the original the New Testament which 
he determined to publish in English. 

He does not seem to have possessed much of this 
world’s wealth; so he sought the help and shelter of 
the Bishop of London, Dr. Tunstall. He was anx- 
ious to carry on his work of putting the Scriptures 
into English, under the roof of the Episcopal palace, 
and with the patronage of the Bishop. One would 
think that here he would be sufe to find aid. But, 
unfortunately, he failed, so he betook himself else- 
where. Though he failed with the Bishop, he suc- 
ceeded with a London merchant of the name of Mon- 
mouth, in whose house he worked for a considerable 
time. 


WILLIAM TYNDALE 


103 



WILLIAM TYNDALE 


104 


WILLIAM TYNDALL 


DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND. 

He soon began to feel that he could not hope to 
be secure in London, nor even in England. He saw 
many a man led off to prison, and some to death, for 
offenses which would not be considered so serious as 
the work on which he was engaged. So in the year 
1524 he left England to take up his quarters for a 
time at Hamburg. He never returned to England. 
Here and at Cologne he toiled on bravely, amid 
proverty, disgrace, and danger, ever upborne by a 
brave heart and a hopeful spirit. At length his work 
was so far forward that the sheets of his New Testa- 
ment were in the hands of the printer. But now, 
when success seemed within reach, a new and bewild- 
ering difficulty came upon him. An unprincipled 
and bigoted priest made some of the printers drunk, 
and got from them the secret of the printing of this 
book. He at once urged the magistrates to order 
Tyndale’s arrest, and also send him across to Eng- 
land. Hearing of this through some friends, Tyndale 
rushed to the printers, seized the precious sheets of 
his book, and fled with all speed from Cologne to 
Worms. 

Worms was then the stronghold of the Reformers, 
and was enthusiastic for Luther and his cause. Here, 
therefore, Tyndale found refuge. In 1526 he com- 
pleted his book, and had copies ready for dispatch to 
England. But a new difficulty now faced him. How 


BURNING THE BIBLE 


105 


was he to get his book into the country? Though he 
had escaped from the mischief of the priests at 
Cologne, he knew that information had been sent to 
England about his work, and he was quite sure that 
a strict watch would be kept for it at the ports of en- 
trance. In order to escape the vigilance of the 
watchers, the book was packed up in bales of cloth, 
in sacks of flour, and in cases of merchandise of all 
kinds. In spite of all the care of the enemies of the 
Word of God, many hundreds of copies were thus 
introduced into England, and circulated far and wide 
among the people. 

BURNING THE BIBLE. 

While the lovers of the Book greatly rejoiced, its 
enemies were put into a commotion and panic. Find- 
ing it impossible to stop its entry into the country, 
the Bishop of London hit upon the idea of buying up 
all the copies that could be found. This was done, 
and the bishop had them piled in heaps and burned 
at Paul’s Cross. The books blazed. But that did 
not stop the good work. The bishop could no more 
hinder the progress of God’s truth than could the 
Nazarenes with their puny hands destroy Jesus Christ 
when they thrust Him out of the synagogue. Said 
Tyndale: “I am glad, for these two benefits shall 
come thereof: I shall get money to bring myself out 
of debt, and the whole world will cry out against the 


WILLIAM TYNDALE 


106 

burning of God’s Word; and tlie overplus of the 
money that shall remain with me shall make me more 
anxious to correct the said New Testament, and so 
newly to imprint the same once again; and I trust 
the second will be much better than ever was the 
first.”. 

A fragment of the Gospel by Matthew is to be 
found in the British museum, the sole remaining relic 
of the original edition which was partly printed at 
Cologne. Of the second edition only two copies 
remain, so effectually did the enemies of the Word 
carry their plans into operation. 

The work this man did produced lasting fruit. 
But, alas! the worker had only ilb treatment in return. 
He toiled on in exile, in poverty, and sickness for a 
few years. He worked away at translations of the 
Old Testament, but his career was cut short by the 
malice of his enemies and the treachery of false 
friends. Being some distance from his home one 
day, he was seized and hurried off to prison. Here, 
in a cold dungeon, he suffered much, until at last, in 
1536, he was strangled at the stake and then burnt 
to ashes. He died with the prayer upon his lips, 
“ Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.” In his 
last hours his thoughts were of and for his enemies. 
How like Him who, when dying on the cross, said, 
“ Father forgive them for they know not what they 
do.” 


XVII. 


AUTHORIZED VERSIONS. 

HE blood of martyrs is the seed of 
the Church.” In the case of Tyn- 
dale this was truly so, and the seed 
took root and produced a golden 
harvest. Though every effort was 
made to wipe out the work of the 
old Reformer who gave his life to translating the 
Bible into English, and printing and circulating it 
among the people, the work he did lived on after 
he was dead. In three years after he was killed, an 
authorized edition of the Bible in English was 
printed and circulated far and wide! 

There was a law which said that all who read the 
Scriptures in their native tongue should forfeit land, 
cattle, life, goods — they and their heirs forever. 
They burned the books of William Tyndale, then 
they burned his bones; and many another brave man 
lost his life in housing and circulating the Bible. But, 
in spite of all, Tyndale’s work took root. It is not 
in the power of man to hinder the work of God. 

“ Potentates have proclaimed their edicts, tyrants 
107 




108 


AUTHORIZED VERSIONS 


have lighted up their pyres, and mercenary legions 
have shed rivers of human blood to destroy the Bible 
and its believers”; but, in spite of them all, it lives 
on. The more men have tried to eradicate the Bible, 
the more deeply it has struck the roots; and the more 
they have tried to blot out the name of Christ, the 
more legible and glorious it has become. 

THE BIBLE FOR THE PUBLIC. 

William Tyndale was put to death in the year 
1536. His offense was circulating the Word of God 
in the English tongue. It seems strange to us in 
these days, when the Bible is so much respected and 
loved, that men should have lost their lives in 
attempts to popularize and spread it among the peo- 
ple. Tyndale’s death and the fate of the Bible shortly 
afterwards, shows us how God sometimes brings up 
one man to sow seed, the fruit of which others shall 
gather. Little did the men who burned his Bible 
and burned his body think that in the space of three 
years the Bible should be circulated far and wide, 
with due authorization. 

THE GREAT BIBLE. 

Such was the fact; for in the year 1539 an edition 
of the Scriptures, called The “ Great Bible ” was 
published under royal authority, and thus became 
the first authorized copy of the English Bible. 
From the year 1535, one year before Tyndale’s 


COVERD ALE'S BIBLE 


109 



MILES COVEKDALE 


In the dedication to Henry VIII., with which the Bible of 1535 
opens, Coverdale says: — 

“I have with a clear conscience purely and faithfully trans- 
lated this out of five sundry interpreters, having only the mani- 
fest truth of the Scripture before mine eyes.” 



110 


AUTHORIZED VERSIONS 


death, to 1539, several other editions of the English 
Bible had appeared, which bore the names of Cov- 
erdale, Matthews, and Taverner. These were for 
the most part based on the work of Tyndale, and 
the Authorized Bible itself was very little more 
than a revision of his work. Among the men who 
read the first national authorized edition of the Eng- 
lish Scriptures at the king’s command was Cutlibert 
Tunstall, bishop of Durham, who when Bishop of 
London had refused to shelter and help Tyndale, 
and who had found the money to buy copies of the 
Bible for burning at Paul’s Cross. 

One almost wishes that the sturdy Reformer had 
been spared for a few years longer to witness the 
triumph of his work. It was his lot to labor while 
others enjoyed; to scatter what others should gather; 
and to sow what others should reap. In it all, how- 
ever, God’s Word was honored, the salvation of men 
furthered, and the glory of God secured. 

After the publication of the first Authorized Bible, 
in 1539, the work of revision still went on. It did 
not, it could not, stop. Hitherto nearly all those who 
had worked at Bible translation had been compelled 
to carry on their work under great difficulties; some- 
times in hiding, often in exile, occasionally in prison. 
No doubt the men who worked under these condi- 
tions loved their work; but the circumstances did not 
allow them to produce such results as they would 


GENEVA ” AND “BISHOP'S” BIBLE 


111 


have done if they could have had free access to libra- 
ries and other sources of information, and if they had 
been allowed that leisure and freedom which the best 
work requires. After the year at which we have ar- 
rived it was altogether different. Men could work at 
the Bible in open day. 

THE ENGLISH BIBLE PUBLICLY HONORED. 

It was only a little more than twenty years after 
Tyndale’s death that Queen Elizabeth ascended the 
throne of England amid the universal rejoicings of 
the people. In her grand entry to the city of London 
she was presented with a copy of the English Bible 
which she pressed to her lips and to her heart as a 
precious treasure. Among the first acts of this 
Queen, we may note that she set at liberty all per- 
sons imprisoned for religion, and the exiles were 
allowed to return home to England. 

Of the many editions of the Bible which appeared 
between the year 1539 and the year 1604, we need 
only name two. The Geneva Bible was published in 
1560. It bore this name because it was the work of 
many scholarly men who passed much time in exile 
at Geneva, which they devoted to this work. It was 
the most popular of all versions for more than half 
a century. This was the first English Bible which 
laid aside the old black letter and appeared in Koman 
type, which divided the whole into verses, and en- 
tirely omitted the Apocrypha. 


112 


AUTHORIZED VERSIONS 


The Bishops' Bible appeared in 1568. This work 
was undertaken by Archbishop Parker, who obtained 
the assistance of a number of bishops. It was not a 
success, and perhaps had less popularity than any 
other English version. 

THE AUTHORIZED OR KING JAMES VERSION. 

In less than fifty years from the accession of Eliz- 
abeth we find the king of England arranging for and 
directing the great company of scholars who prepared 
the splendid edition of the Bible which was to eclipse 
all others and exist down to our day — the one honored 
and treasured as the Authorized Version; than which 
no book ever had a larger circulation, a wider influ- 
ence, or a more glorious history. 

In the early part of the year 1603 J ames the Sixth 
of Scotland comes to the throne of England as James 
the First. He was a man of many indiscretions, but 
was undoubtedly possessed of considerable scholarly 
attainments. When he ascended the throne of Eng- 
land the three versions of the Bible which we have 
previously noticed were in use. Six months after 
his accession there was a conference on religious 
questions at Hampton Court Palace, at which the 
king presided. Here the question of a new revision 
was mooted, and warmly taken up by the king. 
He undertook the direction of the matter, and seems 
really to have shown great skill and judgment in the 


KING JAMES' BIBLE 


113 


arrangements which he made and caused to be made. 

THE COMPANY OF TRANSLATORS. 

A company of fifty-four learned men were selected 
to carry out the work. They were chosen from many 
parties and schools of Englishmen, and included 
some of the besbknown scholars of the day. In- 
structions as to procedure were given to them, and 
rules formed for their guidance. After much labor 
and prayer their work was completed, and given to 
the world in 1611. That they did their work well we 
may see in the fact that for more than two and a half 
centuries this version has remained in possession of 
the field. It is dear alike to the hearts of rich and 
poor. It has found its way into the palace and the 
cottage. Its sweet and simple message is welcomed 
in the home of the prince and the peasant, and has 
the light of life to countless thousands of souls. 


XVIII. 


THE REVISED VERSION. 



fHE Revised Version is considered 
by many to be the most correct 
English Bible the world has known. 
This will be easily understood by 
all if it is remembered how learn- 
ing has progressed and what dis- 
coveries of valuable manuscripts have been made 
since King James’s version was published in the early 
part of the seventeenth century, and that the result of 
all advance is embodied in our Revised Version. 

It is no reflection upon the scholarly men who pro- 
duced the Authorized Version of Kill to say that 
they were not so well able to give the sense of the 
ancient Scriptures as were the great company of mod- 
ern scholars who produced the Revised Version. Dur- 
ing the last two hundred and fifty years large numbers 
of men have devoted much time and attention to the 
study and comparison of the ancient manuscripts of 
the Bible. And to=day we are richer both in the 
number of eminent scholars and in the general knowl- 
edge of Hebrew and Greek than our fathers were, 

in 


FRESH DISCOVERIES 


115 


In 1611 the Sinaitic MS. discovered by Tischendorf, 
as we have described in an earlier chapter, lay 
buried among the dust and rubbish of a monastery. 
The Alexandrian MS., now in the British Museum, 
was not in the country; and the Vatican MS., which 
lay in the Library of Rome, was not available. 

ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS. 

These three ancient MSS. are among the most valu- 
able in the world; but they were not accessible to the 
men who worked to produce the Bible which has 
held sway in England for so long. But all these, and 
many precious documents besides, were at the dis- 
posal of the men who have given us the Revised Ver- 
sion. It is thus seen that greatly improved knowl- 
edge of ancient languages, as well as the possession 
of more correct texts of the original Scriptures, have 
aided the men of these days in their great and im- 
portant work. 

Some have wondered why it was that any Revised 
Version was undertaken. The old Book, they say, 
has served well for many generations; why could it 
not be left to go on its way? We can quite under- 
stand this way of putting it. But if we think of the 
many and great changes which have gone on in our 
English language during the past two hundred and 
fifty years, we shall see that it was desirable to 
change many forms of expression in our version of 


ne 


THE REVISED VERSION 


the Scripture; forms which do not, in some cases, 
convey correct meanings to the readers. And, be- 
sides, we know that in many places we did not get 
so near to the meanings of the inspired Word 
as it is now possible to get. Research in the lan- 
guages used by the men who were inspired of God 
has yielded much information which was not within 
the reach of our fathers. All these things, and some 
others, not only rendered it desirable to have a 
fresh version, but enabled us to produce one better 
than that we had, good and excellent though it was. 

THE REVISERS AND THEIR WORK. 

It may be interesting to show in a few sentences 
how the revision was brought about, and how the re- 
visers went to work. It was in the year 1870 that 
the decision was taken to get together a large and 
representative body of scholars, who should be 
charged with the grave and solemn duty of revising 
the Bible. A company of able men, numbering some 
sixty-five, was appointed for carrying on the work in 
England. It is worthy of note that this company in- 
cluded scholars of all denominations. There were 
forty^one who belonged to the Church of England, 
and twenty^four belonging to other bodies, including 
the Church of Ireland, the Church of Scotland, 
the Baptists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians and 
Methodists. 


the new testament completed 


117 


In addition to this assembly, a committee of 
scholars was formed in America who should coop- 
erate with the revisers in England. This commit- 
tee also included men of various denominations, and 
numbered thirty-four. Putting both committees 
together, we get the large number of ninety-nine 
who took part in this holy and useful work. The 
great company was divided into two committees: one 
charged with the work of the Old Testament, and the 
other with the work of the New. General principles 
for the guidance of all were agreed upon. On June 
22, 1870, the New Testament Company held its first 
meeting; and on June 30, the Old Testament Com- 
pany first assembled. 

COMPLETION OF THE GREAT WORK. 

We cannot follow these good men through all 
their labors; but that they were diligent and faithful 
is seen in the fact that the New Testament Company 
alone held four hundred and seven meetings in the 
years over which their work extended, and the total 
number of attendances is reported as six thousand 
four hundred and twenty^ six. The Old Testament 
Company did not reach the consummation of its toils 
until June 20, 1884, thus having been at work 
for fourteen years. The New Testament Company 
finished its work, on November, 11, 1880, and as- 
sembled together in a service of thanksgiving and 
prayer to God for His goodness. 


118 


THE EE VISED VERSION 


INTEREST IN THE NEW VERSION. 

When it was known that the Revised New Testa- 
ment was completed the people eagerly looked for 
its publication. For the next few months printers 
and binders were hard at work upon the sacred 
volume, some thousands being employed. When the 
work was published in the following May (1881) it is 
said that one million copies were issued to the public 
during the first twenty-four hours; and in order to 
avoid the rush for the book, and to meet the de- 
mand for it as well as possible, the publication be- 
gan at midnight. Not only was this New Testament 
circulated in all parts of the world, but nearly all the 
newspapers called attention to it by the criticisms 
which they made upon it. America was as eager for 
the Word of God as England. Arrangements were 
made for its publication in New York on Friday, the 
same day on which it was issued in England. Chicago 
was as anxious to have the Bible as was New York; but 
as the fastest train then known could not travel the 
distance between the two cities in less than twenty- 
six hours, it seemed as if Chicago would have to be 
content to have the Revised Bible a day or two after 
New York had received it. 

No train could reach Chicago on Saturday until after 
the stores and printing places had all closed. What 
was to be done? Were the inhabitants of this city to 
wait for the Scriptures until the following week? Not 


A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT li9 

so, said the proprietor of one of the daily papers; Chi- 
cago shall have the New Testament at least within 
one day after New York gets it! Ninety telegraphic 
operators were set to work, and sent the whole of the 
precious Book, Matthew to Revelation, over the wires. 
Men were ready to set up the type in great haste, 
and the Revised New Testament was sold, com- 
plete, on the streets of Chicago on the next day after 
its publication in England and in New York. 

It may well be doubted if anything so remarkable 
ever happened in connection with the sacred Scrip- 
tures either before or since. What would William 
Tyndale or John Wy cliff e have thought about this 
great achievement had they been able to witness it? 

Though the Revised Version is so good a book, it 
has not yet succeeded in securing general accepta- 
tion. When the Authorized Version was first 
published a considerable period elapsed before 
people took to it generally; so it will be with the 
New Version. But that it will ultimately come 
into general use there can be little doubt. And may 
the life-giving truths it reveals speedily become the 
possession of all men everywhere; and may they be led 
by the Holy Spirit into the ways of holiness and 
peace. 


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— The N. Y. Observer. 

The Highest Critics vs. The Higher Critics. By Rev. L. W. 

Munhall, M.A. umo, cloth 1.00 

“The appearance of this volume is timely. The style is 
plain and pointed, and the argument critical and cumulative. 
We commend it to all.” — The Religious Telescope. 

The Evidences of Christianity. By William Paley, D.D. Edited 
by Canon Birks. Introduction, Notes, and Supplement. i2mo, 
cloth.. 1.20 

Ten Reasons Why I Believe the Bible is the Word of God. By 
Rev. R. A. Torrey. i6mo, paper *5 

*** See also Brookes, By-Paths, and Living Papert 


Present Day Primers . 

Under this general title the publication has begun of a series 
of Educational books designed for use in Schools , Seminaries , and 
Bible Classes, as well as for the general reader. Each book will be 
complete in itself, and will be the work of a urriter especially com- 
petent to deal with the subject of which it treats. 


*** Each 128 to 160 pp., i8mo, flexible cloth, 40c. net. 

1 . Early Church History. A Sketch of the First Four 
Centuries. By J. Vernon Bartlet, M.A., Lecturer on Church 
History in Mansfield College, Oxford. 

“ The book has a value first for the general reader ; it would 
make an admirable text-book for Colleges ; and for the minister 
who has not had time to open his Church History since he left 
the Seminary, it will reveal things that have drifted into the 
haze of memory and make them bright and fresh again.” — 
J. M. Stifler, Professor in Crozer Seminary. 

2. The Printed English Bible. By R. Lovett, M.A. 
With many Facsimiles and other Illustrations. 

Gives, in brief popular style, the chief facts in the fascinating 
story of the Printed English Bible. The author has selected his 
illustrations and extracts only after close personal study of 
standard copies of the various editions described. 

3. How to Study the English Bible. By Caron 
Girdlestone. 

“ A rich store of valuable information and eminently wise 
counsel is contained in this little manual ; indeed, with so many 
handbooks to Bible study as exist, it is wonderful that so much 
that is original and suggestive can be supplied.” — The Christian. 

4. A Primer of Christian Missions. ( In preparation.) 

5. An Introduction to the Greek of the New 
Testament. By Rev. Samuel G. Green, D.D., author 
of “ Handbook to the Grammar of the Greek New Testa- 
ment, ” etc. ( In preparation. ) 

6. A Primer of Hebrew Antiquities, By Rev. O. C. 
Whitehouse, M.A., Professor of Hebrew in Cheshunt 
College. (In preparation .) 

p. A Primer of Assy riology. By Rev. A. H. Sayce, 
M.A. (In preparation .) 


Living Papers. 

<77rfc^ 

“ Well made, well bound, of handy size, and with marginal 
titles, they are admirably adapted, not only for continuous read- 
ing, but for reference. The topics discussed include nearly every 
vexed question of the day."— The Evangelist. 


Living Papers on Present Day Themes. On Subjects 
of Christian Evidence, Doctrine and Morals. io vols., 

i2mo, cloth, each $1.00 

“fhe set, boxed 10.00 

An authorized American reprint of a most remarkable col- 
lection of sixty papers by t v .e ablest writers, among whom are 
the distinguished authorities mentioned in connection with the 
single volumes named below. Complete list of authors and sub- 
jects on application. 


The Argument for Christianity. Being Vol. XI, “ Liv- 
ing Papers,” By Principal Cairns, Prof. Blaikie and Rev. 
Drs. Kaufman, Lewis, Chapman, and Slater. i2mo, 
cloth i.oo 


SPECIAL VOLUMES. 

Containing papers selected from the “ Living Papers ” Series. 

The Non-Christian Religions of the Age. By Sir W. 

Muir, Drs. Legge, Murray Mitchell, and H. B. Reynolds. 
i2mo, cloth i.oo 

Christ the Central Evidence of Christianity, and 

other Papers. By Principal Caims. i2mo, cloth. . i.oo 

The Higher Criticism. By the Dean of Canterbury, Dean 
Howson, Principal Wace, and Professors Bruce and 
Godet. i2mo, cloth i.oo 

Man in Relation to the Bible and Christianity. By 

Prebendary Row, Canon Rawlinson, Professors Macalister, 
W. G. Blaikie, Radford Thomson, F. Pfaff, S. R. Pattison, 
Sir William Dawson and Rev. W. S. Lewis. i2mo, 
cloth 1.40 

The Non-Christian Philosophies of the Age. By 

Professors Blaikie, Radford Thomson, Porter and Iverach, 
and Rev. W. F. Wilkinson. i2mo, cloth 1.4c 


School and College Text Books . 

GZ 3 S 555 > 

A Syllabus of Old Testament History i Outlines and Litera- 
ture. With an introductory treatment of Biblical Geogra’ 
phy. By Prof. Ira M. Price, Ph.D. Interleaved with writing 

paper for notes. Second Edition, nmo, cloth 81.50 

“ Educational experience, in College work especially, has 
shown the great worth of the Syllabus as a guide to study. 
Students will find the book eminently useful. Its author has 
spared no pains in being accurate.”— The Sunday School 
Times. 

An Elementary Hebrew Grammar, with Inductive Exercises 
and Readings from the Old Testament. By Rev. C. J. Ball, 
M.A. Introduction by Prof. R. F. Weidner, D.D. 8vo, 
cloth 2.25 

Handbook to Grammar of the Greek Testament. Together 
with a complete Vocabulary, and an Examination of the chief 
New Testament Synonyms. Illustrated by Examples and Com- 
ments. By Rev. S. G. Green, D.D. New and Revised Edition. 

8vo, cloth 2.00 

Constant reference is made to the revised New Testament 
of 1881, and more especially to the Greek text of Drs. Westcott 
and Hort. The Vocabulary has been entirely re-modeled; and 
the work in its new form is offered to tutors, classes, and private 
students, in the confidence that it will be found more than ever 
adapted to their needs. 

The New Testament. Newly Translated from the Greek of 
Tregellis, and Critically Emphasized. With an Introduction 

nd Notes. By J. B. Rotherham. 8vo, cloth 1.50 

A New Edition of a most valuable book for Bible Students. 

The Life of Jesus Christ. By Prof. James Stalker, M.A. i2mo, 

cloth 60 

“ A remarkably lucid, accurate, and suggestive analysis of 
the Christ Life which is presented in this book. We value it as 
a new manual for the study of the Divine man.” — The Christian 
Weekly. 

The Life of St. Paul. By Prof. James Stalker, M.A. i2tno, 

cloth 60 

“ Both books are admirable handbooks for Bible classes. 
They are compact, readable, suggestive.” — The Inter-Collegian. 

The Gospel According to St. 'John. Edited, with Notes and 
Explanations, by Rev. J. H. Whitehead, M.A. i6mo, cloth .60 

The Acts of the Apostles. Edited, with Notes and Explanations, 
by Rev. A. J. C. Allen. i6mo, cloth 60 

A Brief Introduction to the Study of Theology, By Prof. R. 
V. Foster. i2mo, cloth 1.00 

Outline of the Fundamental Doctrines of the Bible. By Rev. 

David A. Reed. Interleaved. i2mo, cloth .75 

“A compact and logical arrangemeftw of the great doctrines 
of the Word of God. It is well indexed, and is interleaved for 
notes.” — The Herald and Presbyter. 

Old Testament Studies: An Outline of Old Testament Theology. 
By Prof. R. V. Foster. i2tno, cloth - i-5° 

See also Weidner, Present Day Primers , and Euersheim* 


For Evangelistic Work. 

GSSSOSS) 

Grace and Truth under Twelve Different Aspects. By W. P. 
Mackay, M.A. both, thousand, nmo, paper, 35c.; cloth. . .$ .75 

Abridged Edition, i2mo, paper 15 

“ I know of no book in print better adapted to aid in the 
work of him who would be a winner of souls, or to place in the 
hands of the unconverted.” — D. L. Moody . 

Steps to Christ. By Mrs. E. G. White. 40th thousand, umo, 

cloth 75 

‘‘Plain and practical, and calculated to explain away the 
difficulties that beset the pathway of not a few Christians,” — 
The N. Y. Observer. 
o ' 

Regeneration. By Prof. George Nye Boardman. i2tno, cloth, .75 
‘‘Possessed of a devout mind and clear views of the truth, 
apt to teach and writing in a style that is clear and perspicuous. 
Dr. Boardman does service to the truths of which he treats.”—* 
The N. Y. Observer. 

Life In a Look. By Rt. Rev. M. S. Baldwin, D.D. i6mo, flex- 
ible cloth. 25 

“ It is below its value to say that it is worth its weight in 
gold .” — The Truth. 

The Blood of Jesus. By Rev. W. Reid. Edited by Rev. E. P. 
Hammond. i6mo, paper, 10c.; cloth 25 

How to Bring Men to Christ. By Rev. R. A. Torrey, Supt. of 
the Chicago Bible Institute. i6mo, cloth 75 

“A plain, simple, forcible treatise, judicious and practical, 
which aU Christians will do well to study .” — The Congregation- 
alist. y 

The Worker’s Weapon. Its Perfection, Authority, Study, and 
Use. By Rev. John Henry Elliott. i8mo, flexible cloth. . . 50 

By the joint author of Briggs’ and Elliott’s popular “ Notes 
and Suggestions for Bible Readings.” 

Bible Manual. For Christian Workers, Inquirers and Young 
Converts. By. Rev. Alex. Patterson, nmo, paper, net, 15c.; 

flexible cloth .....net, .25 

Scripture Texts, arranged under classified headings, with 
Index and Hints to Workers. 

Lessons for Christian Workers. Containing a large number of 
Plans, Methods and Hints for effective Christian Service. By 
Rev. C. H. Yatman. Long i8mo, leatherette covers 25 

The Christian Workers Hand-book. By F. T. Pierson. Long 

i8mo, paper 25 

Furnishing for Workers. A Manual for Christian Workers. 
By Rev. L. W. Munhall. 32100, flexible leather net, .25 

Words for the Anxious. A Worker’s Hand-book. By M. B. 
Williams. 32010, flexible leather .25 

~ fSee also Smithy Meyer , Moody , and Pierson, 

















































































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